Glass f f A55 \ 
 
 Book 
 
 
 Copyright^ . 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
A STUDY 
 
 IN THE 
 
 Etymology of the Indian 
 Place Name 
 
 MISSISQUOI 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE McALEER, M.D 
 
 Honorary Member of the Missisquoi 
 Historical Society 
 
 <& 
 
 THE BLANCHARD PRESS 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 1906 
 

 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two Cooies Received 
 
 JUN 9 1906 
 
 'rirht Entry 
 
 ^.XXc. No. 
 COPY B, 
 
 Copyright, 1906 
 
 By George McAleer 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 TO A KIND FATHER WHOM PERSECUTION 
 
 DROVE FROM HIS NATIVE LAND TO FIND AN EARLY GRAVE, 
 
 WORN OUT WITH TOIL AND HARDSHIPS IN THE 
 
 WILDERNESS; TO A LOVING AND DEVOTED MOTHER, 
 
 WHO, LEFT WITH THE BURDEN OF A LARGE FAMILY, EVER 
 
 STROVE BRAVELY ON, WHOM NO TRIAL DAUNTED 
 
 NOR VICISSITUDE DISCOURAGED ; TO THE SISTER AND BROTHERS 
 
 WITH WHOM THE CARES AND JOYS OF THE SPRINGTIME 
 
 OF LD7E WERE SHARED; TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, TRIED 
 
 AND TRUE — PEOPLE FROM MANY CLIMES WHOM A 
 
 COMMON LOT AND A COMMON DESTINY MADE TOLERANT AND 
 
 MUTUALLY HELPFUL — MOST OF WHOM WERE THE 
 
 HARDY AND ADVENTUROUS PIONEERS OR THEIR 
 
 IMMEDIATE DESCENDANTS, MANY OF WHOM 
 
 NOW SLEEP THE LAST SLEEP LN THE SOIL OF THE 
 
 COUNTY THAT THEY RECLAIMED FROM THE PRIMEVAL 
 
 FOREST BY THEIR ENTERPRISE, INDOMITABLE 
 
 ENERGY AND PERSEVERANCE, THE 
 
 ETYMOLOGY OF THE NAME OF WHICH, MISSISQUOI, 
 
 IT HAS BEEN THE WRITER'S EFFORTS TO ELUCIDATE,— 
 
 THIS STUDY IS DEDICATED. 
 
 The Author. 
 
MISSISQUOI 
 
 "LANGUAGE is 
 a solemn thing; it 
 - grows out of life, — out 
 of its agonies and ecsta- 
 sies, its wants and weariness. 
 Every language is a temple in 
 which the soul of those who speak is enshrined." 
 
 So wrote the author of "The Autocrat at the Break- 
 fast Table," one of the great lights in American lit- 
 erature, and applied to the American Indian — the 
 Amerind of modern anthropologists — the beauty of 
 sentiment and diction embodied therein have added 
 significance and value because of their literal truth 
 and pathos. 
 
 As a people they perished before the cupidity, 
 oppression and injustice of the British colonists, even 
 as perish travellers in the mephitic atmosphere of the 
 simoons of the desert; and the names that grew out 
 of their lives alone remain as enduring monuments to 
 tell coming generations of their prehistoric presence 
 here and ownership of the soil. 
 
 No resurgent day will ever dawn to bring them into 
 their own again, and niggardly indeed would be the 
 
6 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 pen that would deny them their proper place in his- 
 tory, although it be envenomed and darkened by the 
 curtain of so-called civilization, and the narrative sad- 
 dened by their sufferings or distorted by malice. 
 
 As they were a nomadic people and principally con- 
 cerned in procuring sustenance and clothing for the 
 body, many of these names, as might be expected, indi- 
 cated where fish and game abounded; their different 
 species and varieties ; the characteristics of mountains, 
 lakes and rivers ; and some had onomatopoeic and other 
 origin. 
 
 Even these, like the people who bestowed them and 
 to whom they meant so much, have not escaped the 
 iconoclastic frenzy of those who drove them from their 
 homes and lands and who extinguished the fires of their 
 wigwams forever. Meaningless names of some worth- 
 less son of royalty or degraded nobility, of some human 
 butcher clothed with military authority, of some un- 
 principled vampire in official station, and of con- 
 scienceless scoundrels in other walks of life, have been 
 substituted for the aboriginal names of great euphony, 
 significance and appropriateness. 
 
 It is not to be expected that a people having no fixed 
 place of abode, and composed of numerous tribes 
 having different languages and dialects, but without 
 written rules or fixed laws, would always have the 
 same name for the same place or thing when many 
 names would be equally appropriate. This may be 
 easily illustrated by supposing a forest-covered hill or 
 mountain beside a lake that abounds in fish, the shore 
 
Etymology op Missisquoi. 7 
 
 of which is composed of cliffs and boulders, and into 
 which a river flows a few miles away, along the shores 
 and at the mouth of which are extensive marshes — a not 
 inapt description of the country in the vicinity of Phil- 
 ipsburg, on the shore of Missisquoi Bay, in the County 
 of Missisquoi, Province of Quebec, and of that portion of 
 Vermont through which the Missisquoi River flows, 
 before the coming of the pale-face. 
 
 The water-ways being then the highways of travel, 
 and fish and game being in abundance thereabouts, it 
 is fair to presume that this portion of the country must 
 have been a place of very general resort. To one 
 tribe it might have been known as ' ' the great hunting 
 place," because of the abundance of deer, moose, bear 
 and other game in the forests ; to another as the " great 
 fishing place,' ' — "big fishing place," — because of the 
 abundance of fish in the lake ; to another as a place of 
 "much water-fowl," — as records prove their abun- 
 dance in these waters before the country was settled; 
 to another as "the place of the big or great marsh or 
 marshes, ' ' — ' ' much miry place, ' ' — ' ' the place of mach 
 grass or willows ; " to another as a place of many and 
 big rocks and boulders ; and others may have bestowed 
 names founded upon some fancied resemblance discov- 
 ered in the shore line of the lake, in the topography of 
 the country, or in the contour of some rocky bluff, as is 
 distinctly traced in "The Old Man of the Mountain" 
 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 
 
 These various explanations are given to show how 
 the same place might have been differently named by 
 
8 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 different tribes who may have visited this locality 
 when on the war-path, in the pursuit of food or adven- 
 ture, or in their periodical migrations; and while all 
 the names may have differed, all would clearly 
 describe some recognizable feature of the place which 
 renders any one or all of them appropriate and in har- 
 mony with aboriginal custom. 
 
 That such was the fact will not seem improbable 
 when I enter more fully upon the discussion of my 
 investigations and efforts to discover the etymology 
 of the name of the river in northern Vermont, and the 
 bay and county in the Province of Quebec now spelled 
 Missisquoi, but which has undergone many changes in 
 orthography. Authorities also differ as to the deriv- 
 ation and signification of the word, as will more fully 
 appear. 
 
 Having been born and reared in Missisquoi County, 
 I was interested in this subject from my earliest recol- 
 lection, and during the years of my school-life I sought 
 in vain to learn when my native county was estab- 
 lished, who established it, who named it, why it was 
 so named, from whence came the name, what it sig- 
 nifies, etc. As the teachers did not know nor seemingly 
 care, and as there was no library that I could consult, 
 nor publications available to supply this light unto 
 my path, I had to submit in this, as in many other 
 things, with such grace as I could command, to the 
 oft-repeated rebuff: "What good is it!" — another 
 form of the cui bono of the avowed utilitarian — as if 
 the pursuit of material things alone was the only end 
 of existence. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 9 
 
 Judging from my more recent experiences along 
 these same lines, I am reluctantly forced to believe 
 that this culpable indifference and inertia, that depress 
 and repel, still continue, not only in the more humble 
 walks in rural life, but also among too many of those 
 seated in high places in the intellectual and educa- 
 tional offices of the Provincial Government, where they 
 are supposed to render information to seekers thereof, 
 and for which they are rewarded with fat salaries. 
 
 Taking leave of the old homestead and the land of 
 my nativity on reaching man's estate, I journeyed to 
 the land of the stranger, but now the stranger no 
 longer, where for more years than span a generation 
 I have since made my home ; but ever and anon, in the 
 hurry and bustle of a fairly active life, my mind uncon- 
 sciously and unbidden harks back to the old hearth- 
 stone and to the living memories of the long ago. 
 
 And now comes the information that the people of 
 Missisquoi County are arousing themselves from the 
 sleep of a century, that an Historical Society has been 
 organized to gather up and treasure the little that has 
 not been already swept into the lethal stream of obliv- 
 ion, coupled with the request to prepare a paper on the 
 very subject which proved such a stumbling-block to 
 me in the days of my youth. 
 
 Being only too glad to lend a helping hand in this 
 good work, I cheerfully acquiesced, and while the 
 results are not all that I could wish, they are submitted 
 to my colleagues in the society and interested readers 
 in the hope that they may stimulate others to engage 
 in the task and prosecute it to more successful issue. 
 
10 Etymology op Missisquoi. 
 
 I lay no claims to ethnological or philological lore, 
 or to having made my investigations along original 
 lines. I have but followed in the pathway blazed by 
 others, and the data and information thus obtained I 
 have supplemented with the pronouncements of the 
 highest living authorities whom I consulted; and to 
 all who have rendered valuable aid I acknowledge my 
 indebtedness and gratitude. 
 
 Failing in my efforts to establish positively the ety- 
 mology of the Indian place name Missisquoi, and find- 
 ing the authorities of the past and present in such 
 seemingly hopeless opposition as to render an agree- 
 ment improbable, if not impossible, I deemed it best, 
 at the risk of the charge of prolixity and tediousness, 
 to record in detail the various steps taken, the meth- 
 ods pursued, and the results obtained, that my readers 
 may know the scope of my work and the authorities 
 consulted, should any of them feel inclined to continue 
 the quest. 
 
 At the outset, I visited the archives of the American 
 Antiquarian Society, a society which was organized 
 more than one hundred years ago, whose extensive 
 library and collection of Americana is located in the 
 city of Worcester, Massachusetts, and which is known 
 to the scholars and savants of the world to be without 
 a rival, where I was privileged to examine the prized 
 Indian dictionaries and grammars so industriously 
 compiled and arranged by the sainted Eoman Catholic 
 missionaries of the long ago, when Christianity and 
 civilization prompted, and not the cruel injustice, 
 oppression and extermination of later times. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 11 
 
 Here I also consulted the monumental works of 
 Bishop Baraga, Eliot, Trumbull, and others deeply 
 learned in ethnology and philology, particularly in 
 the American Indian and the Indian languages and 
 their many dialects. 
 
 Starting with the prefix Misi as the qualifying adjec- 
 tive, which, as a part of the name of a river, our old 
 geographies informed us meant much, great, or big, 
 which explanation was confirmed by the authorities 
 consulted, I added the radical, or root word, squois, 
 making Misisquois, and then sought the meaning 
 thereof. The terminal of the names of many of the 
 Indian tribes ois and quois (Illin-ois, Abena-quois, 
 Souro-quois, Iro-quois) led me to think that ois, quois 
 or squois was the proper ending or terminal of Missis- 
 quois, and this prompted investigation along these 
 lines. 
 
 As I advanced in my work, I found that ois, quois 
 and squois were of French origin, and were used to 
 soften the Indian terminal ooh or wok, — thus Illinois 
 is pronounced by the Ojibways (Chippewas anglicized, 
 and Octipwe modernized) Illinook, and by the 
 Algonquins Illinwok — the terminal meaning men, peo- 
 ple, — but this root word being of too modern origin 
 could not be accepted, and must, therefore, be barred 
 out. 
 
 Pushing my investigations further along other lines, 
 I found Bishop Baraga and others authority for the 
 statement that Missisquoi is of Cree origin, — Misi, 
 great, big, much, — and ihwew, iskew, isquaw or isk- 
 
12 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 waw, all being equivalent, and all meaning woman, and 
 that, therefore, Missisquoi means " great, big, much, 
 or many women. ' ' Here, at last, thought I, is my quest 
 rewarded; here, at last, is the etymology of the word 
 authoritatively determined. 
 
 I next sought for an explanation for the bestowal of 
 this name upon the river in northern Vermont that 
 flows across the State from east to west and disem- 
 bogues into Lake Champlain, near the boundary line 
 between the United States and Canada, and upon that 
 portion of the lake that extends into Canada and known 
 as Missisquoi Bay, believing that the country there- 
 abouts was so well known by this name when the 
 county was surveyed and established that its bestowal 
 thereon was but a natural consequence. 
 
 No authority that I consulted furnished any expla- 
 nation, and, thrown upon my own resources, I then 
 endeavored to recall, but without avail, some conforma- 
 tion of the bluffs, or outline of shore or water, that 
 would suggest the female form and justify the name. 
 Next it occurred to me that the name might mean much 
 or many women— a place where the warriors, when 
 going away for a long time on their annual hunts, on 
 predatory expeditions, or on warfare, might have 
 assembled their squaws and left them, as in a place 
 of safety, until their return. But this, being contrary 
 to Indian custom, had to be abandoned also. 
 
 Whether there ever existed some woman of large 
 proportions or transcendent ability to justify the 
 name of "big" or " great" woman; whether any Joan 
 
Etymology op Missisquoi. 13 
 
 of Arc ever successfully led her admiring and valiant 
 warriors against a cruel and blood-thirsty foe ; whether 
 any Diana ever ranged the woods and led in the chase ; 
 whether any dusky Venus, fair and frail, played a 
 leading part in a conquest of love; or perchance in a 
 tragedy that caused rivers of blood to flow, and so 
 bequeathed the name to coming generations, — it is now 
 perhaps idle to consider, and the quest may well be 
 abandoned to future investigation or individual con- 
 jecture. 
 
 This search for information quickly taught me that 
 I had something more to do than to consult lexicons, — 
 that I had to deal with numerous complexities and 
 problems that required patient investigation along 
 many and diverse lines, which to be prized at their 
 real value must be thoroughly investigated, compared 
 and contrasted. 
 
 No obstacle has deterred nor has expense been 
 spared to obtain exhaustive and accurate information. 
 Following along these lines the work has extended 
 and expanded beyond all my expectations at the 
 outset. 
 
 A little later, it occurred to me that while the Indi- 
 ans were doubtless of the same origin racially, they 
 were not linguistically kindred, and that the language 
 and dialects of the different tribes of Indians varied 
 very much. As the Crees were very remote from the 
 tribes occupying the territory of northern New Eng- 
 land and the eastern part of Canada, and as their lan- 
 guage was very different from the language of the 
 
14 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 latter tribes, I became credulous as to the etymology of 
 the word as given by Bishop Baraga, and sought con- 
 firmation or denial at the seat of government in Que- 
 bec and Ottawa. 
 
 Although inclosing postage and offering to make 
 compensation for the service rendered, I received no 
 information, much less the courtesy of a reply, from 
 officials who occupy distinguished positions in the 
 intellectual and educational departments of the gov- 
 ernment in Quebec, which may aid in explaining why 
 many things are as they are in this Province, and why 
 so many of her sons seek more congenial surround- 
 ings and methods elsewhere. 
 
 From Ottawa came promptly ihe following reply to 
 my inquiry : 
 
 Dominion of Canada. 
 Statistical Bkanch, Department of Agriculture. 
 
 Ottawa, April 9, 1904. 
 George McAleer, M.D., 
 
 Worcester, Mass., U.S.A. 
 Dear Sir: In re yours of the 28th instant, I beg to 
 give you the following notes : 
 
 Missisquoi, — from Mishi, big ; Ishkew, woman, — big 
 woman, in Cree language. 
 
 3)(c gp vfc. :jp :jp gp yfe 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 George Johnson, 
 Statistician. 
 
 This explanation is clear, explicit, unqualified, and 
 in harmony with that given by the good Bishop. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 15 
 
 Here apparently was 
 
 ' ' Confirmation strong 
 As proof of Holy Writ. ' ' 
 
 And yet I was not entirely satisfied. Knowing the 
 great interest taken by the people of all portions of 
 the United States in everything pertaining to their 
 early history, and their very complete records, I next 
 had recourse to the archives of the State of Vermont. 
 In Thompson's History of Vermont, Burlington, 1842, 
 Part III, it is recorded of the name " Missisquoi, ' ' in 
 note at the bottom of page 117 : 
 
 This name is doubtless derived from the Indians, 
 but there is not perfect agreement with regard to its 
 signification. Some consider it as coming from Mse, 
 signifying much, and miskeco, grass, — abounding in 
 grass ; and others from Missi, much, and kisco, water- 
 fowl. Both these names are descriptive, as there are 
 here extensive tracts of wild grass, and both the bay 
 and lower part of the river are favorite resorts of 
 water-fowl. The name is usually pronounced Missisco, 
 and my reason for spelling it Missisco, besides its near 
 conformity to the original, is the unsettled orthography 
 of the word, which may be seen by the following spell- 
 ings, all of which are copied from printed books or 
 periodicals : 
 
 Missis co, Missis que, Missis kay, 
 
 Missis coe, Missis qui, Missis ki, 
 
 Missis coui, Missis quei, Missis koui, 
 
 Mich is coui, Missis quoi, Missis kow, 
 
 Michis couie, Michis qui, Missis koy, 
 
 Missis qua, Masis ka, Missis koue." 
 Missis quay, 
 
16 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 During my subsequent investigations and researches 
 I encountered many others, some of which are: Mes- 
 sesco, Missesco, Michiscouy, Missiskuos, Missiskoug, 
 Missishoug, Missickoui, Missichoiu, Messescoui, Mis- 
 siscouie, Miskouaha, Michikoui. 
 
 And in Part I, page 6, of the same work, occurs the 
 following: "There is a considerable tract of swampy 
 land at the south end of Memphremagog Lake, and 
 another in Highgate, about the mouth of Missisco 
 Ewer." 
 
 This seems to lend color to, if it does not prove the 
 correctness of the etymology of the word, as given 
 above, and that it signifies "a place of much grass," 
 * ' a miry place, ' ' " a marsh, ' ' however much at variance 
 this may be with that given by Bishop Baraga and 
 other authorities. 
 
 The variations in the spelling of the name need 
 excite no surprise. What wonder if the untutored 
 savages did not agree in their intonation, accentua- 
 tion, or in their pronunciation of words! Having no 
 written language excepting a very limited ideography 
 and pictography, nearly everything depended upon the 
 phonetic. They were a people without a literature, and 
 therefore without fixed or accepted forms and laws of 
 speech ; and, being dependent upon the ear, the uttered 
 sound was their chief dependence for communicating 
 with each other. 
 
 Those who have travelled much at home or abroad, 
 where language and pronunciation are based upon 
 definite rules, realize how varied are the intonation and 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 17 
 
 speech in different parts of the same country, — so 
 much so as to render it difficult for strangers to under- 
 stand each other at first, — and how great would be the 
 task to clearly render, by any combination of letters, 
 the sounds of the uttered words as they fell upon the 
 ears of the hearer. How much greater and more diffi- 
 cult the task can be readily imagined when the lan- 
 guage is not understood by the hearer, when the modi- 
 fications in speech of different tribes in different parts 
 of the country are considered, and the many variations 
 in the sound that different individuals in the same 
 tribe would give to the same word. 
 
 An unlettered people, whether from the same or dif- 
 ferent parts of the country, would not be likely to utter 
 the same word, especially if of onomatopoeic origin, as 
 were many of their words, so as to fall upon the ears 
 of the listener exactly alike; and probably most of 
 them would vary so much that a careful individual 
 would not use the same combination of letters to 
 express the sound, and therefore the correct meaning 
 of the word. How much greater would be the diverg- 
 ence when these different sounds fell upon different 
 ears, — cultivated and unlettered alike, — and especially 
 when people of different nationalities, the letters of 
 whose languages had different tonal values, attempted 
 to bind these differing sounds in a rigid frame-work 
 of letters and words to be transmitted to coming gen- 
 erations. 
 
 Judged by this standard, little difficulty will be found 
 in the varied spellings of Missisquoi, especially when 
 
18 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 they produce substantially the same sound, — a fact 
 which seems to prove their common origin and 
 meaning. 
 
 Confronted with these different etymologies of the 
 word, as given by different authorities, only intensi- 
 fied my interest in the subject, and prompted me to 
 push my investigations further, — to establish, if possi- 
 ble, the correct origin and signification of the word. 
 
 Continuing my researches, I addressed an inquiry 
 to Eev. Matthew Henry Buckham, D.D., LL. D., pres- 
 ident of the University of Vermont, who for a time 
 resided in the village of Bedford, Missisquoi County, 
 P. Q., Canada, some fifty years ago, and received the 
 following reply : 
 
 Burlington, Vermont, Nov. 20, 1899. 
 
 Dr. George McAleer, 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 Dear Sir: President Buckham has sent to me your 
 inquiry of the 16th ult. The name Missisquoi, Mes- 
 sisco, etc. (nineteen spellings are given in Thompson's 
 Gazetteer of Vermont) is by some thought to be from 
 Indian Mse (much) and Mskeco (grass) — abounding in 
 grass. Others regard it as from Mis si (much) and 
 Kisco (water-fowl). The lower portions of the river 
 are a favorite resort of the wild duck, etc. But the 
 other derivation may be correct, as the extensive 
 marshes here are covered with wild grass. I prefer 
 the former, partly because the Lamoille Eiver is said 
 to have been named (French) La Mouette (the gull), 
 from the great numbers of these birds seen near the 
 mouth of this stream. As the engraver of the map 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 19 
 
 did not cross his t's, La Mouette became Lamouelle 
 and then Lamoille. 
 
 You can consult Thompson's Gazetteer of Vermont, 
 1842, under Lamoille and Missisquoi. In the very ear- 
 liest maps no name is given to the Missisquoi. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 J. E. Goodkich. 
 
 This letter from Professor Goodrich only confirmed 
 my earlier investigations and prompted further 
 efforts. 
 
 As the State of New York borders upon the western 
 shore of Lake Champlain, I next had recourse to the 
 archives of the State, to the Documentary History of 
 New York, Albany, 1850, and especially to 'Callaghan ? s 
 monumental work, "Documents Kelating to the Co- 
 lonial History of the State of New York/' Albany, 
 1856—. 
 
 "While I found nothing therein bearing directly on 
 the object of my quest, I discovered several items 
 relating to the place and its inhabitants, which as they 
 will doubtless possess interest for the people now liv- 
 ing in the same section of country to which this name 
 is applied, and as they are amongst the earliest 
 recorded references to these parts that I have found, 
 and, especially, as they are not easily accessible, I 
 deemed it best to insert them here. 
 
 In Vol. X, page 546, it is recorded in the report made 
 by Chevalier de Levis to M. de Paulmy : i ' Paul Louis 
 Dazemard, Sieur de Lusignan, son of Captain de 
 Lusignan, was born in Canada in 1691, and in 1722 
 
20 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 was an ensign in a company of the troops of the 
 Marine. In 1733 he commanded at the Eiver Saint 
 Joseph, in Illinois in 1735, whence he returned to 
 Canada in 1739. He commanded at Isle Aux Noix in 
 1759, and in 1760 at St. John." 
 
 In Vol. X, page 102, is given in the "Journal of 
 Occurrences in Canada, 1746, 1747,' ' among other 
 things relating to other times and places : ' ' The 
 Mohawks struck another blow at the same time at the 
 Little Eapid, a league below Chambly, where they 
 have killed a child, and taken two men, women and 
 four children. 
 
 "Lieutenant de Vassant, commanding a guard at St. 
 Therese, immediately sent a detachment to the Eiver 
 Aux Sables to intersect (intercept?) the passage of 
 the enemy; but I returned without having discovered 
 any trail ; this led to the suspicion that the enemy are 
 encamped above Chateaugiie. M. de Beaucourt, in 
 consequence, detached Lieutenant St. Pierre with 
 eighty voyagers and citizens by the Cascades to Lake 
 St. Francis, so as to surprise them, and return by 
 Chateaugiie. Eight Abenakis of Missiskuog have 
 followed this officer ; word has been sent to those of the 
 Lake to go and meet him at the Cedars; it was not 
 thought proper to invite the Iroquois of the Saut, as 
 'twas feared at Montreal that they are treacherous 
 and favor the Mohawks in their incursions on our 
 settlements; they are even suspected of giving the 
 enemy notice when we are in pursuit of them by firing 
 three shots when the detachments are approaching 
 their camps." 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 21 
 
 Tecanancoassin, Chief of the Indians of the Sault 
 St. Louis, on his return to Montreal from Orange, 
 Oct. 19, 1744, reported to M. de Beaucours, as recorded 
 in Vol. IX, page 1110, in the "Abstract of the differ- 
 ent movements at Montreal, on occasion of the war, 
 from the month of December, 1745, to the month of 
 August, 1746," that "An Abenakis of Missiskuoi had 
 seen in the Grand Marais* of the Little Falls, three 
 Indians who had been sent from Orange to examine 
 whether any persons were hunting, as should he not 
 discover any, it would be a proof that all the natives 
 would be under arms to wage war against them; that 
 the Abenaki told them to go themselves and find those 
 who were hunting, which induced them to return. ' ' 
 
 And in Vol. X, page 32, in the report of the doings 
 during the same period it is recorded: "A party of 
 twenty Abenakis of Missiskoug, set out towards Bos- 
 ton and brought in some prisoners and scalps;" and 
 at another time, on page 33 of the same volume, "A 
 party of eight Abenakis of Missiskoug has been fitted 
 out who have been in the direction of Corlard (Cor- 
 laer?) and have returned with some prisoners and 
 scalps;" and again on the same page, another item, 
 "A party of Abenakis of Missiskoug struck a blow 
 near Orange and Corlard, and brought in some prison- 
 ers and scalps." 
 
 These, among many other similar expeditions, com- 
 plete the report for the time specified. Many of the 
 
 *Now called the Twelve-Mile Marsh, which extends from Whitehall 
 north, half way to Ticonderoga. 
 
22 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 expeditions "struck a blow towards Boston," — the 
 others upon the settlements along the eastern border 
 of the State of New York. 
 
 The report of Governor H. Moore to the Earl of 
 Shelbourne appears in Vol. VII, page 875, in part as 
 follows : 
 
 Fort George, New York, Nov. 8, 1766. 
 I have now the honor to inform your Lordship that 
 the line of Division between this Province and Quebec 
 is fixed in the Eiver Sorrell about two miles and a 
 half below Windmill Point,* so that no part of Lake 
 Champlain is included in the Province of Quebec 
 except a small portion of Missicoui Bay; whilst we 
 were employed in this service, many French gentle- 
 men from Quebec came to us at Windmill Point and 
 demanded from me a confirmation of those Grants 
 which had been made to them from the French Crown 
 which not only extend along Lake Champlain and 
 cover both sides of it but reach beyond the carrying 
 place at Ticonderoga. 
 
 Since the Peace very large tracts on both sides of 
 the Lake have been granted by Lieutenant Governor 
 Colden to the reduced officers and disbanded soldiers 
 in consequence of his Majesty's Proclamation, and the 
 French claims now made have caused no small uneasi- 
 ness to the Possessors of these Lands, who, having laid 
 out all their substance in making settlements, are 
 under the greatest distress at the thoughts of being 
 dispossessed, as such a proceeding would be followed 
 by inevitable ruin to them and their families. 
 
 *In 1731 a windmill was built in Alburgh at a place then called 
 Pointe aux Algonquians, and since known as Windmill Point. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 23 
 
 In the Appendix of Thompson's Gazetteer of Ver- 
 mont, 1853, Part 3, page 100, it is recorded of the 
 River Lamoille : " It is not qnite so large as the Winoo- 
 ski and Missisco. It is said to have been discovered 
 by Champlain in 1609 and called by him La Mouette, 
 the French for mew or gull, a species of water-fowl 
 which were very numerous about the mouth of the 
 stream. In Charlevoix's map of the discoveries of 
 North America, published in 1774, it is called la riviere 
 a la Mouelle, probably a mistake of the engraver in not 
 crossing the t's. Thus, to the mere carelessness of a 
 French engraver, we are indebted for the smooth, 
 melodious sounding name, Lamoille. ' ' 
 
 And in the same volume, page 117, we read: "Mis- 
 sisco Bay is a large area of Lake Champlain, which 
 extends into Canada between Swanton and Highgate 
 on the east, and Alburgh on the west, on Canada line, 
 is about five miles, and it extends four or five miles 
 into Canada. This bay covers an area of about thirty- 
 five square miles." 
 
 "Missisco River rises in Lowell, and pursuing a 
 northeasterly course through a part of Westfield and 
 Troy, crosses the north line of the State into Potton in 
 Canada, where it receives a large stream from the 
 northeast, — and falls into Missisco Bay near Canada 
 line. Length, about 75 miles, and it drains about 582 
 square miles in Vermont. ' ' 
 
 In reference to the various names by which Lake 
 Champlain has been known, it is recorded in the Ver- 
 mont Historical Gazetteer by Hemenway, Vol. I: 
 
24 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 "The Abenakees called the Lake ' P e-ton-bonque^ that 
 is, ' The waters which lie between, ' viz. : them and the 
 Iroquois, and by others Patawabouke, which signifies 
 an alternation of water and earth. The Iroquois 
 called it l Cania-deri-guarunte,'* that is, 'The lake that 
 is the gate or door of the country.' The Dutch and 
 English called it Corlder, after a Dutchman from 
 Schenectady who went down the lake in 1665, and was 
 drowned near Fort Cassin. ' ' 
 
 "A tract of land six leagues in length, along the 
 Missisquoi River and Lake Champlain, by three 
 leagues in width from north to south was granted by 
 Grallisoniere, Governor, and Bigot, Intendant, to Sieur 
 Laressene in 1748, and ratified by the King in 1749. ' ' 
 
 "Foucault Seigniory on Chambly River, from 
 boundary line to Seigniory of Noyan, two leagues 
 along river and lake to Missisquoi Bay, was granted in 
 1733." 
 
 In Vol. IX, page 887, the habits and customs of the 
 Algonquians are described at length, and among these 
 it is recorded: "Four or five young men sing and 
 beat time with the drum and sisiquoi, f and the women 
 keep time and do not lose a step ; it is very entertain- 
 ing, and lasts almost the entire night." And "they 
 lodge partly under Apaquois, which are made of mat 
 
 *From Kanyatare, the Mohawk word for lake, and Kanhoharonde, a 
 door. 
 
 fPronounced seseequah, a rattle generally made from a gourd. The 
 Missisquoi River contains numerous water-falls of very considerable 
 height, the sound of which may have reminded the aborigines of the 
 sound of their sisiquois, and prompted the bestowal of that name upon 
 the river. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 25 
 
 grass." In a note at the bottom of the page the fol- 
 lowing explanation is given: "Apaquois — matting 
 made from flag or rushes — from Apee, a leaf, and 
 Wigquoiam, a hut." 
 
 Joining the radical or terminal quois to the qualify- 
 ing adjective Misis completes the name Misisquois, 
 and, with the explanation given of quois, seems to con- 
 firm the explanation of the word as given in the Gazet- 
 teer of Vermont as a place of "much grass," i. e., cat- 
 tail flag (Typha latifolia) and bullrushes (Scirpus 
 lacustris) — "a miry place," a bog or marsh. 
 
 In White's "Early History of New England," Con- 
 cord, N. H., 1841, considerable space is devoted to the 
 various incursions of the Abenaquis Indians into New 
 England, their depredations and captives. On page 
 167 is recorded their attack on Vernon, in the State of 
 Vermont, in 1755, and the experiences of some of their 
 prisoners in captivity. Among these taken to Canada 
 were a Mrs. Howe and several of her children — one an 
 infant in her arms. After relating their toils, depri- 
 vations and hardships before reaching Montreal, the 
 narrative continues : ' ' Speedily after, the Indians 
 commenced their winter hunting." Mrs. Howe was 
 then ordered to return her child to the captors. The 
 babe clung to her bosom, and she was obliged to force 
 it away. She continues : ' ' They carried it to a place 
 called 'Messiskow,' on the borders of the river Mis- 
 siscoui, near the north end of Lake Champlain, upon 
 the eastern shore." 
 
 The place here called "Messiskow," to which these 
 
26 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 captives were taken, was doubtless Swanton Falls, 
 where a very considerable number of these Indians 
 lived for many years, and where they erected a stone 
 church, in the belfry of which was the first bell that 
 ever summoned people to the house of worship in Ver- 
 mont. The Jesuit fathers here, as in Canada, brought 
 Christianity to the children of the forest and minis- 
 tered to their spiritual wants and were the last to 
 abandon this church and settlement at the close of the 
 American Kevolution. 
 
 The present village of Troy, in the northern 
 part of the State of Vermont, was long a place of 
 rendezvous for the Abenaquis Indians, and from earli- 
 est times it was known by the name of Missisquoi until 
 A. D. 1803, when a frenzy for changing aboriginal 
 to classic names became epidemic throughout the 
 country, and it was changed to the name it now bears 
 after the ancient city of Troy. 
 
 Finding such radically different meanings given to 
 the word Missisquoi in the records of the past, I 
 decided to consult the leading authorities of the 
 present time on the Indian language and dialects. 
 
 I then addressed an inquiry to the well-known Algon- 
 quian scholar, William Wallace Tooker, author of the 
 "Algonquian Series," comprising ten volumes relat- 
 ing to the language, antiquities and history of the 
 Algonquians of the United States and Canada, asking 
 him for an explanation of the origin and signification 
 of the word Missisquoi. 
 
 Under date of Jan. 16, 1905, he wrote as follows : 
 

 CARTE DU LAC 
 CHAMPLAIN 
 
 avec les Rivieres, depuis le Fort de Chambly 
 dans la Nouvelle France, jusques a Orange 
 de la Nouvelle Angleterre, dresse sur divers 
 memoires. — (Circa 1731.) 
 
 Original now in the archives of the "Min- 
 istere de la Marine et des Colonies," Paris. 
 
 Reproduced in part expressly 
 for the 
 
 ETYMOLOGY OF 
 MISSISQUOI 
 
 By George McAleer, M.D. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 27 
 
 On the Name Missisquoi. 
 
 Dr. Geokge McAleer, 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Dear Sir: After the English forces from Fort 
 Richmond, under Captain Johnson Harmon, attacked 
 the Abnaki Indians of Maine, at Norridgewock on the 
 Kennebec River, Ang. 12, 1724, burnt their fort and 
 village, and slew Rev. Father Rasles, the French mis- 
 sionary there, the survivors migrated west to the head 
 of Lake Champlain, then under control of the French 
 Colonists of Canada. Sieur Auger, the King's sur- 
 veyor, made a draft of this section for the French in 
 1732, whereon he locates the " River Michiscouy, ' ' in 
 the State of Vermont, then in the Seigniory of de Beau- 
 vois. In the grant of 1733, to Lafontaine, the adjoin- 
 ing waters are called "Bay of Missiskouy. ' ' In 1746 
 is mentioned the Abenaki of Missiskoui. In the oper- 
 ations of the French in New England and New York 
 in 1746, we find in the record that "twenty Abenakis 
 of Missiskoui set out toward Boston and brought in 
 some prisoners and scalps." In the English records 
 of 1767 a petition was filed for lands "to be laid out 
 on the south of Missickoui Bay." Again in 1770, a 
 grant was made for "2000 acres of land in the bay of 
 Missichoiu on the east side of Lake Champlain." On 
 Sauthier's map of 1779 is laid down the "Bay," 
 "River" and "Island of Missiskoui." On the island 
 are marked the words "Indian Castle," which may 
 indicate, possibly, where the Abenakis lived. 
 
 On the same map, round about the bay, are indicated 
 several extensive marshes or swamps, with the largest 
 one at the head of the bay. It was to these swamps 
 or marshes I believe the name was originally applied, 
 and from thence transferred by the French and Eng- 
 
28 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 lish to the bay and river without regard for its signif- 
 icance, as was often the case with Indian names. 
 
 The persistence of the form shows this derivation to 
 be quite evident. Therefore, I translate the name as 
 a ' ' great miry place, " " great muddy place. ' ' 
 
 Miss-iskouy — Abenaki mach-esh-dk, Del. Mach-as- 
 sisco, Mass. mis si-ass quo -ay eu, — great, miry place/ ' 
 The termination oui is the French form, and fre- 
 quently occurs in Indian names in the French nota- 
 tion. V . n 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 William Wallace Tookee. 
 
 To this I made answer that I was very familiar with 
 the Maine wilderness, that I had many times followed 
 the old Indian trails through the woods and over 
 mountains from that State into Canada and back again, 
 that I had been over the route from Norridgewock by 
 way of the Dead River over the "height of land," 
 which is the summit of the Boundary Mountains, thence 
 by Lake Megantic and the Chaudiere River to Quebec, 
 the route travelled by the missionaries of the olden 
 time, by Benedict Arnold and his detachment of Con- 
 tinental soldiers to attack Quebec, and by the Indians 
 from earliest times in their periodical migrations ; and 
 that as they, like others, operated along the line of least 
 resistance, they would be much more likely to reach 
 Lake Champlain by this route and the St. Lawrence, 
 Richelieu, St. Francis or other rivers, than by jour- 
 neying through dense and almost impenetrable forests 
 and over mountains, morasses and lakes to reach the 
 head waters of the river Missisquoi, following which 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 29 
 
 in their canoes to its month wonld bring them to Lake 
 Champlain. 
 
 I also mentioned the fact that in the science of Ich- 
 thyology, there is a variety of the species Salmo 
 known as Sisco, Siscowet (prononnced Siscoway), and 
 inquired if this, in conjunction with the adjectival 
 prefix Missi, as indicating a place of mnch fish, might 
 not be the origin of the word, and if so would it not 
 prove the key to its meaning. I also informed him 
 that there was no marsh — "much miry place" — along 
 the shores of the bay, but that it was coarse gravel, 
 boulders and rocks, which would seem to indicate that 
 the name with this meaning, as given, was a misfit. 
 
 To this I received the following reply : 
 
 Sag Harbor, N. Y., Jan. 21, 1905. 
 George McAleer, M. D. 
 
 My dear Sir: Yours of the 19th came to hand in 
 due season, and contents duly noted. You evidently 
 know more about the topography of the Maine wilder- 
 ness and Lake Champlain than I do. It must have 
 been very interesting to travel over those old trails 
 and roads, when the historical events connected with 
 them are carried in one's mind. 
 
 Now as to Missisquoi, I still adhere to my transla- 
 tion, for the name belonged to a "great miry place," 
 somewhere thereabout, and perhaps to some part of 
 the river, as that stream first bears the name in the 
 records of the white man. Sauthier's map (Docu- 
 mentary History of New York, Vol. I) shows swamps 
 at the head of the bay. 
 
30 Etymology of Missisquol 
 
 Now the Indians were very literal in the use of 
 words, and the nse of misi or wiichi, meaning great, 
 large, extensive, was not permitted in the sense of 
 plenty as in your translation. While it could be used 
 to denote a " great fish," or a " great water-fowl," it 
 must not apply to a place. To denote a great fishing 
 place another term would be used. Sometimes the 
 prefix denotes the species of the fish taken. Again I 
 do not know sisco, or siscowet, as a generic term for 
 fish. In all place names in which the name for fish 
 occurs as a terminal or prefix, it is namees. This is 
 the generic name without designating the species, and 
 when the species is named the terminal indicates a 
 "fishing place," or "where fish are plenty." I can 
 give several other reasons why your translation is not 
 acceptable. The same name occurs on Long Island, 
 applied to a marsh, as "Assasquog," which, as you 
 will notice, does not have the prefix, or else has lost 
 it, but M' assasquog cognates Missisquoi. 
 
 The only other possible etymology is Miss-askgu- 
 og, "the great grass place," or a place "where the 
 great rushes grow." 
 
 Both names were applied to swamps or marshes 
 where rushes or reeds were got for making baskets. 
 Here on Long Island we have the name Manoivtasquot, 
 i. e., "a place of the basket rush," — Manowt, "a bas- 
 ket." 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 William Wallace Tooker. 
 
 To this I made reply, when I took opportunity to 
 mention the etymology of the word as given by Bishop 
 Baraga and others, coupled with suggestions and 
 inquiries, to which I received the following reply: 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 31 
 
 Sag Harbor, N. Y., Jan. 30, 1905. 
 
 Dear Dr. McAleer: Your long letter and pamphlets 
 were very interesting. 
 
 I suppose you are familiar with the accounts of the 
 fight at Narantsouak from French sources in the 
 Colonial History of New York, Vol. IX, as there is 
 much about the Abenakis in that volume. They could 
 reach Canada in a few days (page 940). They were 
 at Missisquoi in 1725 (page 939). They were there 
 in 1736 (page 1052). One hundred and fifty went to 
 Canada in 1725 in a deplorable condition (page 938). 
 After the fight one hundred and fifty got together 
 (Charlevoix, Vol. V, page 279, Shea's Edition). This 
 is my authority. 
 
 In regard to Missisquoi, this termination is a plural 
 form. *8benakis, Abenaquis, Abenaquois are simply 
 the English and French plural terminations. Sben- 
 ivaben, "the East," — aki, "land." So with Abena- 
 quis or Abenaquois, "the East landers," the people 
 of the East. The Abenaki at the place Missiskoui 
 might be called by the French the Missisquois. This 
 is all there is to that. 
 
 "Big Squaw" is foolish. 
 
 The earliest form of the name is that on a map of 
 1731 (Col. Hist. N. Y., Vol. IX, p. 1022), when it is 
 applied to the river in northern Vermont now known 
 by this name. 
 
 It never belonged to the bay into which the river 
 empties. It described most probably some portion of 
 the river, and possibly the grassy valley through 
 which the river flows. The word could be translated 
 
 *The character 8 is pronounced nearly the same as the French ui. 
 In old Abenaquis it represented consonantal w, — w' followed by the 
 short vowel and u — producing a sound midway between out and waw. 
 — Author. 
 
32 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 the great valley or place of great grass. Are you 
 familiar with the river? The earliest form is Michis- 
 couy. The word for grass and marsh is so near alike 
 that it is almost impossible to distinguish between 
 them. 
 
 Your etymologies are all contrary to Algonquian 
 nomenclature, and are all unacceptable from my stand- 
 point, and are unlikely from the savages' standpoint. 
 
 You must get your mind off of the bay and put it 
 on the river, where it was bestowed in 1731, 1732, 1733, 
 etc. Can you give an earlier date? There is a place 
 called Missisquoi Valley, through which a railroad 
 runs. Was this a grassy valley? 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 William Wallace Tookee. 
 
 Seeking further information for or against the 
 various explanations given, I next addressed an 
 inquiry to the well-known Indian scholar, William 
 Jones, of the American Museum of Natural History 
 in the city of New York, to which I received the fol- 
 lowing reply: 
 
 77th Steeet and Eighth Avenue, 
 New Yoek, Feb. 8, 1905. 
 De. Geoege McAleee, 
 
 Woecestee, Mass. 
 My dear Sir: I have your letter asking for the ety- 
 mology and meaning of the Indian word Missisquoi, 
 or Missisco. My work in Algonquian has been con- 
 fined to dialects of the Great Lake region, and I can- 
 not locate the word from that place. 
 
 At any rate Misi looks as if it might be the same as 
 an initial stem Mes, Mis or Mch> which conveys ideas 
 
Etymology op Missisquoi. 33 
 
 like big, large, whole, total. I cannot offer anything 
 definite for the rest of the word. It is difficult to 
 render an Algonqnian word as it stands alone without 
 showing the situation in which it is used. 
 
 I regret not being able to be any further help. If 
 the word happened to have belonged to a New Eng- 
 land Algonqnian dialect, you might be able to run it 
 down by using Trumbull's Natick Dictionary. The 
 volume was published by the Bureau of Ethnology at 
 Washington. Furthermore, Professor Prince of 
 Columbia University might be of help. He has done 
 a good deal of work with New England Algonquian 
 
 dialects. v , , 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 William Jones. 
 
 Acting upon the suggestion of Mr. Jones, I wrote 
 the following letter to Professor Prince : 
 
 Worcester, Feb. 15, 1905. 
 
 Prof. J. Dyneley Prince, 
 
 Columbia University, 
 
 New York, N. Y. 
 
 Bear Sir: I am very anxious to learn the origin and 
 signification of the Indian word Missisquoi, or Mis- 
 sesco as formerly spelled, a name given to a river in 
 the northern part of Vermont, and later to that por- 
 tion of Lake Champlain which extends into Canada 
 and known as Missisquoi Bay. 
 
 Authorities of the past on the Indian language and 
 dialects, as well as Indian scholars now living who 
 hold prominent government stations at Ottawa, On- 
 tario, under the Government of the Dominion of Can- 
 ada, agree that the word is of Cree origin, and is com- 
 
34 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 posed of Misi, much, great, big, many, and ikew- 
 ishew — isquew, iskwaw, women. 
 
 This etymology does not commend itself to me, not 
 being in harmony with Indian custom, besides being 
 far-fetched, — forcing a word of Cree origin upon the 
 language of the Abenaquis, a more eastern and dis- 
 tant people who had at least a different dialect if not 
 a different language, and who would doubtless use a 
 different word from that used by the Crees to express 
 the same meaning. 
 
 Some New England authorities, probably basing 
 their information upon the explanation given by 
 earlier writers who may have been mistaken, claim 
 that the name signifies a bog, a marsh, a miry place, a 
 place of much reeds or grass, and the like, but as such 
 places were abundant elsewhere in the territory inhab- 
 ited by the eastern Indians, and as it was the common 
 practice of the Indians to give the same name to like 
 conditions wherever found without reference to the 
 number of times it was bestowed, and as this name 
 does not occur elsewhere, it would seem to be too 
 radical a departure from their usual custom to be 
 accepted on less than very conclusive evidence. 
 
 Moreover, there are no extensive marshes along the 
 shore of Missisquoi Bay, and as such morasses were 
 called Muskegs and Pokelokens by the Algonquian 
 Indians, this meaning given to the word would also 
 seem mal-apropos. 
 
 The river Missisquoi in early times was famous for 
 the large quantities of trout and other edible fish taken 
 from its waters, and may not the aboriginal name 
 cisco or siscoei (pronounced siscoway), at the present 
 time limited to a variety of the Salmo family, and now 
 found elsewhere, then have had a broader and more 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 35 
 
 comprehensive signification! Or may not the variety 
 of trout, to which this name is now restricted, then 
 have abounded in these waters and since have been 
 exterminated? 
 
 Certain it is that the radical sisco or siscowet joined 
 to the qualifying adjective Misi, making Missisco or 
 Missiscoway, constitutes the phonetic word, and would 
 more probably be the true origin of the word, and also 
 in harmony with the usual custom of the Indians when 
 bestowing place names, viz. : a much, great, or big fish- 
 ing place, a place where fish abound. This latter 
 explanation I have never seen hinted at, but as it 
 seems more in harmony with aboriginal methods, and 
 as the other explanations seem vague if not improb- 
 able guesses, made in early times and handed down 
 from generation to generation by subsequent writers, 
 I venture to offer the suggestion for your considera- 
 tion as one deeply schooled in the language and dia- 
 lects of the Abenaki. 
 
 Craving your indulgence for this trespass upon 
 your valuable time, and soliciting your criticism and 
 comments upon the subject matter of this letter, and 
 thanking you in advance for your consideration and 
 the courtesy of a reply, I am 
 
 Yours most respectfully, 
 
 GrEOEGE McAlEER. 
 
 To this I received the following reply: 
 
 15 Lexington Ave., 
 New York, N. T., Feb. 20, 1905. 
 Dear Dr. McAleer: I have read your letter relating 
 to the name Missisquoi, a river in the northern part of 
 Vermont, and after taking several days to let it sink 
 
36 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 in, I have come to the following conclusions, which I 
 submit to you herewith : 
 
 First, you are undoubtedly right in rejecting the 
 translation "big woman," and chiefly for the reason 
 that the element iskwa, or shwa, is purely a finale in 
 modern Abenaki, and would not be used to denote 
 "woman" with an adjective. The Abenaki call a big 
 woman Jcchi pehanen always. The adjectival element 
 misi is, however, never used independently, but always 
 connected with what follows : thus, Misisibo could 
 mean big river and misi-iskiua might mean "big 
 woman," only NOT in Abenaki. 
 
 Of course you are right in your Sprachgefuhl in 
 saying that this is contrary to Indian customs. So we 
 eliminate that supposition. 
 
 Secondly, I do not believe the name has anything to 
 do with trout, the word for which in Abenaki, so far 
 as I know the dialect, is not sisco, but sho tarn, "red 
 trout;" and namagw, generally used of "grey trout;" 
 c. f. msanamagw, "salmon," i. e., "big trout." 
 
 Now there is a form Mishquskou given as meaning 
 "trout" in Trumbull's Natick Dictionary, but this is 
 far away from our form, and I cannot establish it else- 
 where. Big red trout would be in Abenaki msi-sho- 
 tam, which is too far away for us. 
 
 I believe that the form Missesco is from Abenaki 
 msa-skog and means "big snake." The form Missis- 
 quoi, with ending uoi, suggested to me at once msi-sisi- 
 hwa, "big rattlesnake." Sisikwa (pronounced see- 
 seekwah) means "rattler" and never anything else. 
 It is quite possible that the territory, or part of it, 
 through which the Missisquoi Eiver ran, was at one 
 time infested with snakes or rattlesnakes. If it is 
 marshy, as you suggest in one part of your letter, this 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 37 
 
 is all the more likely. I regard Missisquoi and Mis- 
 sesco as two distinct forms. 
 
 It is extremely difficult to judge of the meaning of 
 modernized Indian names in white man's form. 
 This you know, of course. I will give you a most 
 amusing example. Dr. Seward Webb has named his 
 place in the Adirondacks, Nehasne, which he says 
 means "beaver on a log" in Iroquois. I doubted this, 
 and wrote to my friend, Father Forbes at Caughnawa- 
 ga, who is past master in this language. He wrote 
 me that nehasne simply means "le voila," " there he 
 is" — and is a common expression. 
 
 He accounts for Dr. Webb's meaning by supposing 
 that someone in early days heard an Indian say 
 "Nehasne" — "there he is," at the moment a beaver 
 was seen before jumping into the water, when the 
 white man immediately concluded that this was the 
 word for beaver ! I firmly believe that this is the way 
 Dr. Webb got his word. I know of similar instances 
 in other dialects, although I am no Iroquoian myself. 
 
 I would be glad to hear from you again in this 
 matter, as I am very much interested in all Americana, 
 to which, however, I can only give such time as is not 
 taken up by my work in Semitica. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. Dyneley Pbince. 
 
 P. S. — If the Abenakis had wished to say "big 
 trout river" they would say misi-sko tam-tukw. I am 
 sending a little pamphlet on Indian place names in the 
 Adirondacks. T D P 
 
 And later, in answer to some further objections and 
 suggestions, Professor Prince wrote again as follows : 
 
38 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 Columbia University, 
 New York City, Feb. 24, 1905. 
 
 Dr. George McAleer, 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Bear Sir: I cannot refrain from saying another 
 friendly word abont Missisquoi. I note from your 
 letter that you still cling to the idea that the element 
 sesco or sisco has something to do with fish. I 
 assure you as one who has a good colloquial knowledge 
 of Abenaki that this element cannot mean fish of any 
 kind. 
 
 Fish in all eastern Algic dialects is namas or names 
 or namech, and trout is sko-tam, pronounced shohtam, 
 with a quittered h. As to the variety of the spellings 
 of the name, they really signify little, and are proba- 
 bly nothing more than a number of methods of spell- 
 ing introduced by unlettered whites in their efforts to 
 reproduce the Indian pronunciation. If you will say 
 Missisquoi, which was originally pronounced Missis- 
 kwa with the French oi sound, to any Abenaki Indian, 
 he will tell you either that it means "big rattlesnake ' ' 
 or "big snake.'' The word is quite evidently a French 
 attempt to write the Abenaki maaskog, "big snake," 
 the g nearly silent, or wisa-sisik-wa, "big rattle- 
 snake," both of which terms may have been applied 
 to the region. 
 
 Above all do not write any paper for publication 
 without saying the name to an intelligent Abenaki 
 Indian or you will be terribly attacked by some one 
 like Gerard who has made a specialty of the eastern 
 Algic. 
 
 Personally I could talk Abenaki nearly as fast as 
 English once, but have lost my conversational fluency 
 of late years. Yours very truly, 
 
 J. Dyneley Prince. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 39 
 
 This positive piscatorial pronouncement of Profes- 
 sor Prince prompted further investigation along these 
 lines. In a contribution to the pages of the "Journal 
 of American Folk-Lore/' page 240 et seq., from the 
 pen of Dr. Alexander F. Chamberlain, Fellow of Clark 
 University, Worcester, Mass., entitled " Algonkian 
 Words in American English: a Study in the Contact 
 of the White Man and the Indian/ 7 occurs the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 Cisco (Sisco), a name applied to certain species of 
 fish found in the Great Lakes and adjoining waters: 
 (1) The Lake "moon eye" (Coregonus hoyi) ; (2) 
 The Lake herring (Coregonus artedi). The word is 
 probably derived from one of the Algonkian dialects 
 of this region. 
 
 Cisco ette. A name of the Lake herring, apparently 
 derivative, with French diminutive suffix, from Cisco, 
 but rather a corruption of Siskowit. 
 
 Siscowit. The name, which has also the forms sis- 
 cowet, sisco ette, siskowit, etc., is applied both to a 
 variety of the Great Lake trout, "Mackinaw trout" 
 (Salmo-namaycush) , and to a Lake herring (Sisco), is 
 by some writers referred to as " an Ojibwa Siskawit. ' ' 
 
 And in the History of the Missisco Valley, by Sam- 
 uel Sumner, M. A., published under the auspices of the 
 Orleans County (Vt.) Historical Society, 1860, it is 
 recorded on page 6: "Four people in one day about 
 the year 1800 caught more than 500 pounds of trout in 
 a pond near the foot of Bald Mountain in Westmore in 
 the northern part of the county." 
 
40 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 And in "Lake Champlain and its Shores,' ' by Eev. 
 W. H. H. Murray, Boston, 1890, it is stated on page 
 190 : "The Winooski Eiver is not only a very beautiful 
 stream, but to a peculiar degree historic. The Abena- 
 quis Indians originally occupied the east side of the 
 lake from opposite Mohawk Eock to the northern end 
 of Missisquoi Bay, and the Winooski Eiver was, 
 because of its multitudes of salmon and the beauty of 
 its banks, a favorite resort of theirs. It was along 
 this river also that the old Indian trail ran which led 
 over to the Connecticut, and was much used by all the 
 northern tribes in friendship with the Abenaquis in 
 their annual migrations to and from the sea coast." 
 
 While Dr. Chamberlain authenticates my contention 
 for the name and identity of the fish, and the History 
 of Missisco Valley and the Eev. W. H. H. Murray tes- 
 tify to the former very great abundance of trout in the 
 Missisquoi Eiver and near-by waters, and Trumbull's 
 Natick Dictionary gives Mishquskoo as the Algonquian 
 word for trout, it is not contended that this proves the 
 etymology of the word under consideration; but it is 
 urged that as a working hypothesis it has as many ele- 
 ments of probability to recommend it as many others 
 that are offered and warmly advocated.* 
 
 As my investigations proceeded, confusion seemed 
 more confounded, but this only stimulated renewed 
 endeavor. I next addressed the following letter to 
 
 * Since the above was written 1 have discovered that this identical 
 variety of the species Salmo—Salmo-namaycush— formerly abounded in 
 vast numbers in all the tributaries of Lake Champlain. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 41 
 
 Hon. Desire Grirouard, D.C.L., Q.C., M.P., Judge of 
 the Supreme Court of the Dominion of Canada, 
 Ottawa, and author of "Lake St. Louis Old and New, 
 and Cavalier de la Salle" : 
 
 Worcester, Mass, U.S.A., May 18, 1905. 
 
 Hon. Desire Girouard, 
 
 Judge Supreme Court of Canada, 
 Ottawa, Ontario. 
 Dear Sir: I am very anxious to learn the etymology 
 of the Indian place name formerly spelled Missesco, 
 Missescoui, and various other ways until officially 
 decided in its present form, Missisquoi, some fifty or 
 more years ago; a name of a river in northern Ver- 
 mont, of a bay on the northern end of Lake Cham- 
 plain, and of a county bordering thereon in the Prov- 
 ince of Quebec. I desire to learn if the various spell- 
 ings have a common origin and signification, or if 
 they are different words having different meanings, 
 and if so, what they are. I appealed to Dr. Alexander 
 F. Chamberlain of Clark University, who has given 
 much attention to the language and dialects of west- 
 ern Indians and who has written monographs and arti- 
 cles for publication in ethnological journals thereon, 
 but being less familiar with the language of the east- 
 ern Indians he referred me to you with authority to 
 use his name in this connection. Will you not kindly 
 come to my aid and oblige me by supplying the inform- 
 ation sought! By so doing you will confer a great 
 favor, and thanking you in advance therefor, I am, 
 
 Yours most respectfully, 
 
 George McAleer. 
 
 To which came the following prompt reply : 
 
42 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 The Supreme Court of Canada. 
 
 Ottawa, Ontario, 21st May, 1905. 
 Dear Doctor: Your letter of the 18th received. I am 
 making inquiry into the subject and expect to be able 
 to report in a few days. Yours very truly, 
 
 D. GrIROUARD. 
 
 And later : 
 
 The Supreme Court of Canada. 
 
 Ottawa, 24th June, 1905. 
 
 Dear Sir: After a good many inquiries, I am able at 
 last to give you the etymology of the name "Missis- 
 quoi," spelled "Missiskouy" in a grant from the 
 French Crown in 1733, "Missisque" in another offi- 
 cial document of 1783, and "Missisqui" by Bouchette 
 in 1815. It means the same thing, no matter how 
 spelled. Its origin is Abenaquis, and a missionary of 
 a tribe of these Indians informs me that it is well 
 known among them. It means a place where boulders 
 are to be found, and more especially ' 6 Boulder Point ; ' ' 
 "I'origine du mot Missisquoi," he says, il est Masiki- 
 koik, mot qui signifie endroit ou il y a du caillou et 
 plus specialment encore Pointe de Cailloux." 
 
 This interpretation differs very much from the one 
 generally accepted, — "much water-fowl." I am writ- 
 ing an article on the subject for ' ( Le Bulletin des 
 Recherches Historiques," a monthly periodical pub- 
 lished in Levis, P. Q. It will probably appear in the 
 August number. As I am leaving for Europe for 
 some months, I will not be able to send it to you, but 
 you may get it from the publishers. 
 
 Hoping you may be pleased with the information 
 sent, I remain, Yours very truly, 
 
 D. GrIROUARD. 
 
 Dr. George McAleer. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 43 
 
 In pursuit of further information, I sent the follow- 
 ing letter : 
 
 Worcester, Mass., May 29, 1905. 
 
 Mr. W. H. Holmes, 
 
 Chief of Bureau American Ethnology, 
 Smithsonian Institution, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Dear Sir: I am very anxious to learn the derivation 
 and meaning of the Indian place name now spelled 
 Missisquoi — a name of a river in northern Vermont, 
 and of a bay on the northern end of Lake Champlain, 
 in the Province of Quebec. This name has undergone 
 many changes in spelling, some of which I subjoin, 
 together with some of the different explanations that 
 have been given of their origin and signification. 
 
 The qualifying adjective, Mch, Mich, Michi, Mse, 
 Mis and Missi, is present in nearly all, but the radical 
 or root word appears in many forms, some of which 
 are sesco, sisco, siscoe, siscoo, siscoue, siskoiu, sis- 
 couie, siskuoy, slcoui, sisquio, siskoue, isqua, isquay, 
 isquoi, isqui, ishoug, etc., etc. 
 
 And some of the meanings given are : 
 
 Mes sisco — a place of much fish or trout. 
 
 Mis sisiquoi — a place of much, many or large gourds, 
 such as the Indians used for rattles or drums, and to 
 beat time with. 
 
 Mis sesikew — much, many, or great rattlesnakes. 
 
 Mse kiskeco — a place of much grass ; a miry place ; a 
 place where many willows grow ; a place where cat-tail 
 flag abounds (which was largely used by Indians for 
 making mats). 
 
 Mse kisco — much or many water-fowl. 
 
 Mis ikew, or iskwew — big or great woman. 
 
 These derivations and meanings are furnished by 
 
44 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 some of the leading authorities of the past, and by 
 Indian scholars of the present time, and each is posi- 
 tive of the correctness of his rendering, and equally 
 positive that the others have no substantial basis to 
 rest upon. I desire, also, to learn if all these forms 
 have a common origin and signification ; or, if they, or 
 some of them, may not have a different origin, and 
 therefore a different meaning. 
 
 The courtesy of your consideration and aid will be 
 highly appreciated by, my dear sir, 
 
 Yours most respectfully, 
 
 George McAleer. 
 
 Smithsonian Institution. 
 Bureau of American Ethnology. 
 
 Washington, D. C, June 5, 1905. 
 Dear Sir: Your letter of May 29 asking the meaning 
 of the word Missisquoi is at hand, and I beg to give 
 you the statement furnished by Mr. Hewitt, who is 
 our best expert in the languages of the East: Missis- 
 quoi is seemingly either from Missi, great, large, and 
 ikwew or iskwew, a woman, and thus signifies a large 
 woman; or Missi, great, large, and assisquois, mud or 
 clay, which would make it signify large or great clay 
 place. You will see, therefore, that is related to our 
 words Mississippi and Missouri. Before the absolute 
 meaning of the word can be given, however, as used 
 in New England, the entire history of its use must be 
 known. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 (Signed) W. H. Holmes, 
 
 Chief. 
 Dr. George McAleer, 
 
 "Worcester, Mass. 
 
MISSISQUOI RIVER 
 and LAKE CHAMPLAIN 
 
 AS SHOWN ON 
 
 CLAUDE JOSEPH SAUTHIER'S MAP 
 
 Published in 1779. 
 
 Reproduced in part expressly for 
 
 THE ETYMOLOGY OF MISSISQUOI 
 
 By George McAleer. M.D. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 45 
 
 To this letter of Mr. Holmes I made the following 
 reply : 
 
 Worcester Mass., June 12, 1905. 
 
 Mr. W. H. Holmes, 
 
 Chief Bureau American Ethnology, 
 Smithsonian Institution, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have yonr favor of June 5th, in refer- 
 ence to the Indian place name Missisquoi, now before 
 me. You state that " before the absolute meaning of 
 the word can be given, however, as used in New Eng- 
 land, the entire history of its use must be known.' ' 
 
 The only place on this continent ever known by this 
 name is the river in northern Vermont, from which it 
 was given to that portion of Lake Champlain near by 
 which extends into Canada and now known as Missis- 
 quoi Bay, and later (about 1800) it was given to the 
 county bordering thereon in Canada. 
 
 The name of the river was originally spelled Mes- 
 sesco, as was also the village of Troy, Vermont, 
 when first named, and it was so called until October 
 26, 1803, about the time that the wave for changing the 
 aboriginal to classic names swept over the country, 
 when it was given its present name. In its orthogra- 
 phy this name has undergone many changes. It is 
 spelled on a map made by Sieur Auger in 1732, Michis 
 couy, and later in 1779, it is spelled on Souther's map 
 Missis koui. Various other modifications, some of 
 which were mentioned in my previous letter, have 
 occurred in the spelling, until it became fixed in the 
 present form some time after the county bordering 
 upon the bay of this name was established. 
 
 You mention Mis si iskew as a probable origin of 
 the word. Indian scholars pronounce this inadmissi- 
 
46 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 ble as being of Cree origin, a language differing from 
 the Iroquois and Abenaquis, the latter of whom occu- 
 pied the territory in question, and the former were 
 their nearest neighbors on the opposite side of the 
 lake ; one of which tribes doubtless bestowed the name, 
 with the probabilities in favor of the latter. 
 
 I am very anxious to probe this matter to the bot- 
 tom and to get the exact etymology of the word so that 
 it will be accepted as authoritative, and sincerely trust 
 you will not deem me too importunate when I crave 
 your further valuable aid. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 GrEORGE McAlEER. 
 
 Smithsonian Institution. 
 Bureau of American Ethnology. 
 
 Washington, D. C, June 13, 1905. 
 Dear Sir: I have your letter of June 12 regarding 
 the signification of Missisquoi, and will refer it to such 
 members of the bureau as may be able to throw further 
 light upon its meaning. As all of our people are 
 extremely busy in completing work to be submitted at 
 the close of the fiscal year, June 30, it is not likely 
 that they can give any time to the inquiry for the 
 present, but I will see that it is attended to at the 
 earliest possible date. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 W. H. Holmes, 
 
 Dr. George McAleer, Chief * 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 I next sought the desired information from a mis- 
 sionary of the Abenakis at Pierreville, P. Q., Canada. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 47 
 
 Wokcestek, Mass., U.S.A., July 5th, 1905. 
 
 Rev. Joseph de Gonzague, 
 
 St. Thomas de Piekkeville, P. Q. 
 
 Reverend and Dear Sir: Your correspondent 
 desires to learn the etymology of the Indian place 
 name now spelled Missisquoi, but which in earlier 
 times was spelled in various other ways, some of 
 which are Michiscoui, Missisco, Missiskoui, etc. 
 
 At first, this name was confined to a river that flows 
 across the northern part of the State of Vermont and 
 disembogues into Lake Champlain near the boundary 
 line between the United States and Canada. Later 
 it was given to that portion of the lake that extends 
 into Canada and is now known as Missisquoi Bay ; and 
 when the land was first surveyed, about one hundred 
 years ago, it was bestowed upon the county border- 
 ing thereon in the Province of Quebec. 
 
 The examination of the works of those who have writ- 
 ten upon Indian philology and kindred topics, reveals a 
 very great discrepancy in the conclusions arrived at 
 in reference to the origin and signification of this word, 
 and living students and scholars whom I have con- 
 sulted are no less discordant and unharmonious. 
 
 I very much desire to learn the etymology of this 
 word, and to settle for all time its true origin and 
 signification. 
 
 The waters and territory to which it is now applied 
 were mainly, since the dawn of history at least, under 
 the sway of the Abenaquis, which would lend color 
 to the supposition that it is of Abenaki origin; but as 
 the section of the country known by this name was 
 upon the border line separating them from their fierce 
 and implacable enemies, the Iroquois, it would be 
 doing no violence to probability to suppose that the 
 
48 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 word may have had an Iroquoian origin, particularly 
 as the terminals koui, koue and coui (Catara-coui) are 
 frequently met with in that language. 
 
 I rejoice that it is my good fortune to be in corre- 
 spondence with one of that band of devoted mission- 
 aries who for centuries have evinced the zeal of the 
 Master and the heroism of the martyrs in Christian- 
 izing and uplifting the lowly creatures of a common 
 Creator, whose devotion and triumphs are a credit 
 to humanity and civilization, and which are in such 
 marked contrast with the sword of persecution and 
 extermination so industriously and so fatally wielded 
 by others. 
 
 I rejoice, moreover, in the knowledge that he to 
 whom I appeal for aid "is now spending himself and 
 being spent" in behalf of the remnant of that once 
 famous tribe of Indians of which alone, among all 
 others, the fierce and warlike Iroquois stood in dread, 
 and upon whose territory they did not presume to 
 encroach; the tribe whose headquarters were near the 
 height of land whence flow the Yamaska, St. Francis, 
 Chaudiere, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Connecticut and 
 Missisquoi rivers to all points of the compass, and 
 whose memory is now mainly recalled to the masses 
 of the people who live in this territory by the names 
 they gave to rivers, lakes and mountains, and to this 
 an otherwise insignificant river ! 
 
 Living as you do, reverend sir, among the descend- 
 ants of these people, whose tongue and traditions you 
 have made your own, in addition to your many other 
 accomplishments and advantages, I am very confident 
 that you can and will oblige me by supplying the 
 information sought, whether the name be Abenaquis, 
 Iroquoian, or of other origin; whether the various 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 49 
 
 spellings have a common origin and signification, or, 
 if different, what are the different meanings, etc., etc. 
 The offering which I enclose herewith comes from 
 a not plethoric purse — I wish I could send you more — 
 and I beg you to accept in the same kind spirit that 
 prompts it, not as compensation, but as a testimony 
 of my earnestness and appreciation of your antici- 
 pated courtesy and valuable aid. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 George McAleer. 
 
 To this letter I received prompt reply, of which the 
 following is a translation, and which because of its 
 interest and value as a picture of the home life at the 
 beginning of the twentieth century of the remnant of 
 a powerful and extensive Indian tribe, now rapidly 
 nearing the sunset of their existence, I give in full : 
 
 Abenakis Mission. 
 St. Thomas de Pierreville, P. Q., July 11, 1905. 
 
 My dear Sir: Your interesting letter and its con- 
 tents have been received. I must say to you that the 
 noble sentiments which you have expressed to me 
 deserve to be preserved in the archives of the tribe. 
 I thank you very cordially for the offering which you 
 have made to me. I shall use it to advantage for my 
 church which has so much need of it. 
 
 As to the etymology of the word Missisquoi, which 
 is the subject of your inquiry to-day, it is difficult to 
 trace it. It is Algonquian. The dictionaries of Father 
 Aubery do not mention the word. I must request you 
 to wait a little while. Chief Laurent, an old Abena- 
 quis, well informed and still a student, a man who 
 
 4 
 
50 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 knows the language very well, having compiled and 
 published an Indian dictionary, resides at this mis- 
 sion, but is now with other members of the tribe in 
 the United States, whither they have gone to dispose 
 of the products of their handiwork. This man, then, 
 ought to be able to inform us of the origin and signifi- 
 cation of the word. When he returns I will have 
 him trace this word, and I doubt not but that he will 
 find "the thread that ties up the skein." 
 
 I thank you again for your words of appreciation 
 of my work among the Abenakis. I have been a mis- 
 sionary here for ten years. The Abenakis here num- 
 ber one thousand souls. They have occupied this mis- 
 sion since it was established in A. D. 1680. They speak 
 French, English and Abenaquis fluently, the last being 
 the language in general use. 
 
 They are all in very moderate circumstances finan- 
 cially, and for the most part secure their means of 
 livelihood by the sale of the products of their handi- 
 work, such as canoes, snow-shoes, moccasins, baskets, 
 etc. 
 
 Many have intermarried with the Canadians. They 
 are intelligent, have an extraordinary ear for lan- 
 guages, have learned to play musical instruments, and 
 are generally good singers. They are gentle, hospita- 
 ble and sympathetic. They are not economical. They 
 are inconstant and have incessant need of direction, 
 of being pushed, rather. This mission is located in 
 the most beautiful spot in the country, and they live 
 happily in the midst of their poverty. 
 
 I have written to you in French, hoping that you 
 understand this language. I have great difficulty in 
 expressing myself in English. When next you write 
 let me know if you understand me or if you prefer to 
 have me write in English. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 51 
 
 Will you accept, sir, the expression of my sincere 
 gratitude, and believe me, 
 
 Most devotedly yours, 
 
 JOS. DE GONZAGUE, 
 
 Missionary Priest. 
 
 Failing to get any information from those charged 
 with the administration of the educational affairs of 
 the Province of Quebec, or from others prominent in 
 official station, in relation to the etymology of the name 
 of one of the counties of the Province, or even the cour- 
 tesy of a reply to my inquiries, I opened the following 
 correspondence with the head of the Provincial Treas- 
 ury Department, and for whose kindly interest and 
 aid, so timely and exceptional, I take this opportunity 
 to specially thank. 
 
 Worcester, Mass., February 10, 1905. 
 
 Hon. J. C. McCorkill, 
 
 Provincial Treasurer, 
 Quebec, P. Q. 
 Dear Mr. McCorkill: A native of old Missisquoi 
 County, I am proud that one of her sons has at last 
 attained to the proud distinction of head of the Finan- 
 cial Department of the Province, and this through the 
 Liberal party to which my people have ever been devot- 
 edly loyal! Ad multos Annos! I recall with pleasure 
 a dinner at which I met you some years ago in Bed- 
 ford, but a little thing like that is not supposed to be 
 much of an event in such a strenuous life as you are 
 living, and so I suppose what is now a very pleasant 
 memory with me has long since become a blank to you ; 
 
52 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 another proof, if one were wanting, that "things are 
 only great by comparison. ' ' 
 
 Like other members of my family, I seek not selfish 
 ends — nor ever have — but all the same, yon can do me 
 a great favor, and I trust you will not deem me pre- 
 sumptuous when I explain matters and relate the diffi- 
 culties encountered. 
 
 For more years than span the life of a generation I 
 have tried to stir up a little interest in matters his- 
 torical in my native county ; but alas ! what a mountain 
 of indifference and inertia have I encountered! At 
 last a promising ray breaks upon the horizon; an evi- 
 dence of life is given to prove that Missisquoi at last 
 is awakening from the slumber of one hundred years 
 and will yet claim her place historically among her 
 sister counties of the Province. I am asked, as a con- 
 tributor thereto, to prepare a paper on the name of 
 the county, — its origin and signification. 
 
 To help matters to a successful issue, I am only too 
 willing to spend time and money, but here, again, 
 another alas ! and alas ! ! — after spending both only to 
 find other forbidding and disheartening obstacles lying 
 athwart my path in the land of my nativity, and this 
 where interest and co-operation should be manifested, 
 and which serve in a measure to keep Quebec where 
 she is in the race of enlightenment and progress. 
 
 To make a long story short, I have appealed to the 
 authorities at Ottawa and met with ready response, 
 but they are more familiar with the language and 
 dialects of the western Indians than with those of the 
 East, and, therefore, their information is not as defi- 
 nite and conclusive as it should be to cover the inform- 
 ation sought. 
 
 The States of Vermont and New York have promptly 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 53 
 
 put their archives at my disposal. The Bureau of 
 Ethnology and Philology at Washington gives prompt 
 attention to my inquiries, busy college professors and 
 individuals who have attained more than national 
 celebrity, accord me every courtesy; but from the 
 scholars and savants of Quebec, where doubtless the real 
 information and data are lodged, never a word ! Try as 
 I may, my every effort is effectually blocked by culpa- 
 ble indifference and a deadly inertia. You will appre- 
 ciate my dilemma all the more when I inform you, 
 probably what you already know, that nearly every 
 Indian tribe had a dialect of its own, and the word to 
 express a meaning in one section would not be under- 
 stood, or might have a different meaning, in another. 
 At Ottawa they have very full vocabularies of the 
 Mississaugas, Cree, Ojibway and other more remote 
 western tribes, of which, to some extent at least, they 
 have made a specialty, doubtless owing to the fact 
 that a large number of Indians still reside in the great 
 northwest, and to their dealings and intercourse with 
 them. The eastern Indians being to them a back num- 
 ber, so to speak, and rapidly vanishing, do not appeal 
 to them with the force of personal interest as the west- 
 ern Indians do; consequently, as might be expected, 
 their records in relation to the eastern tribes are not 
 so full and complete. The Indians inhabiting the val- 
 ley of the St. Lawrence and tributaries, especially on 
 the southern side, were principally of the St. Francis 
 and Abenaquis tribes, who had a common dialect, 
 which must be of record in the archives of Quebec, 
 and I now make appeal to you to put me in the way 
 of securing a key by means of which to effect an 
 entrance thereto ; or, what would please me much bet- 
 ter, if I am not asking too much, is for you to get the 
 
54 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 information for me, as I am snre you have an entree 
 where I would only encounter the repelling sign, ' ' No 
 admission. ' ' 
 
 What I desire is to learn the etymology of the word 
 Missisquoi in the Abenakis dialect of the Algonquian 
 language. This I would like to get authoritatively, 
 and surely some one in Quebec must be able to furnish 
 it. If you cannot find time to secure it for me, will 
 you kindly put me in the way of getting it for the bene- 
 fit of the people of your old constituency who know so 
 little of their own history, and thus greatly oblige, 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 George McAleer. 
 
 Quebec, P. Q., February 13th, 1905. 
 
 George McAleer, Esq., MJD., 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 My dear Dr. McAleer: I received your letter of the 
 10th inst. yesterday. You are very complimentary 
 indeed, but at the same time I am human enough to 
 appreciate a kind word from an old Missisquoi boy 
 after the ups and downs of political life which I have 
 experienced since 1866. 
 
 I quite agree with you that our good people of Mis- 
 sisquoi do not appreciate the value of a history of the 
 county. We have a historical society, but thus far it 
 has not done much practical work. I understand that 
 the present officers of the society are trying to get the 
 people of the county to take a more lively interest in 
 its history, but whether they will succeed or not, I do 
 not know. 
 
 I forwarded the last page of your letter to Mr. 
 Dionne, Librarian of Parliament, with a request to 
 give me the information asked for with reference to 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 55 
 
 the word Missisquoi. He informed my secretary that 
 he had received a letter from you, and was looking up 
 the matter, and would write you shortly on the sub- 
 ject. Have you written to Dr. A. Gr. Doughty, Domin- 
 ion Archivist, Ottawa? If not, please do so. He is 
 the author of valuable Canadian historical works, and 
 perhaps he will be able to assist in procuring the in- 
 formation which you ask for. I myself will drop him 
 a line and ask him to interest himself in the etymology 
 of the name of my native county. 
 
 If I can assist you in any other way in your re- 
 searches and literary work, please do not hesitate to 
 write me. Believe me, Y ours faithfully, 
 
 J. C. McCoRKILL. 
 
 Acting upon the suggestion of Mr. McCorkill, I ad- 
 dressed the following letter to Dr. A. Gr. Doughty, 
 Dominion Archivist, Ottawo, Ontario : 
 
 Worcester, Mass., U.S.A., Feb. 17, 1905. 
 Dr. A. Gr. Doughty, 
 
 Dominion Archivist, 
 Ottawa, Ontario. 
 
 My dear Sir: I am very desirous to learn the ety- 
 mology of the Indian place name Missisquoi, a bay at 
 the northern end of Lake Champlain and of a county 
 bordering thereon in the Province of Quebec. A 
 native of this county, I am asked to prepare a paper 
 setting forth the origin and signification of this word, 
 and when and by whom it was bestowed upon the 
 county. 
 
 This work I am glad to undertake, and I should like 
 to be accurate in my statements and conclusions. 
 
 I applied for assistance to another native of Mis- 
 
56 Etymology of Missisquoi, 
 
 sisquoi, Hon. J. C. McCorkill, now treasurer of the 
 Province of Quebec, and lie suggested your name as 
 one who would be likely to render valuable aid. I shall 
 esteem it a very great favor if you will kindly furnish 
 me with an explanation of the origin and signification 
 of this word, and thanking you in anticipation therefor, 
 I beg you to believe me, 
 
 Yours most respectfully, 
 
 GrEORGE McAlEER. 
 
 To this I received the following reply: 
 
 Office of the Akchivist. 
 
 Ottawa, Ont., February 27, 1905. 
 George McAleer, M.D., 
 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 Dear Sir: I have made many inquiries concerning 
 the etymology of the word "Missisquoi," but I have 
 been unable to get anything very definite, either from 
 books or from correspondents. 
 
 The word is no doubt of Algonquian origin, and it is 
 evidently derived from Misqui or Misqua, the former 
 meaning blood and the latter red. 
 
 "Whether the term was applied to the water, meaning 
 "the bloody river," or on account of a battle, or not, 
 I am unable to say; or whether there may have been 
 any peculiarity in the color of the water to suggest the 
 term, is simply speculation. However, I think there 
 is no question about the origin of the word. 
 
 I will keep the matter before me, and if I find out 
 anything further I will let you know. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 Alfred Gr. Doughty. 
 
 P. S. — The reduplication of "is" is common, such 
 as Miss is ippi, sipi being water, river. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 57 
 
 I then replied to the letter of the Hon. J. C. Mc- 
 Corkill as follows : 
 
 Worcester, Mass., Feb. 27, 1905. 
 
 Hon. J. C. McCorkill, 
 Provincial Treasurer. 
 
 My dear Mr. McCorkill: Your favor of February 
 13th came duly at hand, and should have had earlier 
 answer, but I have been waiting to hear from Mr. 
 Dionne, Librarian of Parliament. I had written to 
 him some time before writing to you, and his reply 
 has just come to hand. He is unable to help me very 
 definitely in the matter of the etymology of the Indian 
 word Missisquoi, and strange enough he does not sug- 
 gest where this information may be obtained. Cer- 
 tainly there must be in the archives of Quebec, or in 
 the records of some archaeological, ethnological, 
 philological, antiquarian or historical society of the 
 Province, definite data bearing upon this subject, and 
 it would seem that a man in Mr. Dionne 's position, if 
 he could not furnish the information sought, would 
 refer me to the source whence it could be obtained. 
 But so it is, and has been ! 
 
 When the name was adopted for the bay and county 
 there must have been consideration given to the mat- 
 ter, the whys and wherefores discussed, and reasons 
 assigned, and of this doubtless record was made. 
 Again, the Indian tongue is yet a living language at 
 Lorette and other missionary stations where it would 
 seem information might be obtained as to the origin 
 and signification of this word, but, personally, I do not 
 know any one there to whom to apply. 
 
 I hope you will not deem me importunate if I again 
 appeal to you for aid. 
 
58 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 The Missisquoi Historical Society shows evidence of 
 life, and I feel it my duty, as a son of old Missisquoi, 
 to render every possible aid in a work already too 
 long delayed. Whatever I do I desire to have au- 
 thentic, and hence this must be my excuse for again 
 troubling you. I have written Mr. Doughty at 
 Ottawa, but have not heard from him yet. 
 
 Bespeaking your kindly interest and aid, and thank- 
 ing you in advance therefor, I am, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 George McAleer. 
 
 Quebec, P. Q., March 2d, 1905. 
 
 George McAleer, Esq., M.D., 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 My dear Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of the 
 27th ulto. I will see what I can do to procure you the 
 information which you seek about the word Missisquoi. 
 The House is opening to-day, and it may be a few days 
 before I can give the matter personal attention. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 J. C. McCorkill. 
 
 Worcester, Mass., July 3, 1905. 
 
 Hon. J. C. McCorkill, 
 West Farnham, P. Q. 
 Dear Sir: In re Missisquoi. In your last letter, 
 which I received several months ago, you informed 
 me that I might expect to hear soon thereafter from 
 you in reference to the etymology of this Indian place 
 name, but I suppose your duties are so numerous and 
 exacting that the matter has passed out of your mind. 
 Supposing that now you have a little respite from the 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 59 
 
 duties of your office of Treasurer of the Province, I 
 beg to again bring the matter to your attention. This 
 name at first was variously spelled — some forty differ- 
 ent ways being in evidence in various publications — 
 but soon after it was given to the county bordering 
 upon the bay of the same name, the spelling thereof 
 became fixed in the present form ; and it is a fair pre- 
 sumption that reasons for so doing were debated, con- 
 sidered and weighed, so that the orthography adopted 
 might be as nearly correct as possible, and that they 
 doubtless appeared in the official publications and doc- 
 uments of the time, and if so, they must be available 
 in the archives of Quebec. As these surveys were made 
 under the direction of the Crown Lands Department, 
 it is very probable that some record of this will be 
 found in that department. Then there are the eth- 
 nological, antiquarian, archaeological, historical and 
 other societies whose records should furnish the in- 
 formation sought. Moreover, as the Abenaquis is still 
 a living language, and as linguists contend that the 
 word is of Abenaquis origin, it would seem that its 
 derivation and meaning might be furnished by many 
 who use this tongue could access to or communication 
 be had with them. 
 
 As all these sources of information are too remote 
 to be available by me, and as I am very 
 anxious to get at the bottom facts in the case, I again 
 venture to trespass upon your valuable time in the 
 hope that I may secure your co-operation and aid to 
 set at rest for all time the origin and signification of 
 the name of our county, to which we owe loving alle- 
 giance and of which in many things we are so justly 
 proud. 
 
 Craving your indulgence for this additional trespass 
 
60 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 upon your valuable time and forbearance, and thank- 
 ing you in advance for the courtesy of your considera- 
 tion and assistance, I beg you to believe me, 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 GrEORGE McAlEER. 
 
 Quebec, July 11th, 1905. 
 
 GrEORGE McAlEER, M.D., 
 
 Worcester, Mass., U.S.A. 
 Dear Sir: The Hon. Mr. McCorkill received commu- 
 nication of your favor of the 3d inst. last Thursday, 
 but was too busy to give it his personal attention, so 
 handed it to me to reply to. 
 
 Since then I have been endeavoring to get at the 
 true etymology of the word " Missisquoi,' ' and am 
 furthering my inquiries by writing to-day to some 
 Indian missionaries to obtain their opinions on the 
 subject. When I have completed my research I will 
 write you again giving you all the information I have 
 been able to obtain. 
 
 I have the honor to be, sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 G. Alfred Morris, 
 Private Secretary. 
 
 Worcester, Mass., July 13, 1905. 
 
 G-. Alfred Morris, Esq., Private Secretary, 
 Quebec, P. Q. 
 Dear Sir: I have your favor of July 11th, and note 
 contents. I fear that in view of the many changes in 
 the Indian languages and dialects, as well as in the 
 orthography of the words and place names, the 
 missionaries of to-day will not be able to throw much 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 61 
 
 light upon the etymology of the word Missisquoi as 
 now spelled. Back in 1736, this word was spelled 
 MicJii-koui, and koui was the radical or root word of 
 many Iroquoian names — Hiro-koui, Catara-coui, etc. — 
 and it seems as if this same koui was the original ter- 
 minal or root word of Missisquoi, as it so appears on 
 old maps and in early publications, and it would very 
 naturally have a different meaning from the sisquoi 
 of the present form. 
 
 Various spellings were in vogue down to the time 
 when Missisquoi County was surveyed, about A. D. 
 1800, and for some time afterward until it was officially 
 established in the present form. Doubtless at that time 
 reasons pro and con were given for this, and it seems 
 as if the records thereof should be in the Crown Lands 
 Department, in some of the publications of the time, 
 or in the records of the Quebec Historical or other 
 society. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 GrEOEGE McAlEEK. 
 
 Treasurer's Office. Treasury Department. 
 Province of Quebec. 
 
 Quebec, July 22d, 1905. 
 
 George McAleer, Esq., M.D., 
 
 Worcester, Mass., U.S.A. 
 Dear Sir: I regret to say that up to the present 
 time all our researches have failed to result in definite 
 or official information as to the etymology of the word 
 " Missisquoi." Enclosed I beg to hand you the record 
 of our correspondence re this matter. From it you 
 will gather that the consensus of opinion gives the 
 meaning of the word as being "big woman." One 
 
62 Etymology op Missisquoi. 
 
 gentleman of our Public Works Department here up- 
 held this opinion, and another gentleman of the De- 
 partment of Lands, Mines and Fisheries, who has 
 made considerable researches among the Indian names 
 of the Province, also maintained that the word meant 
 "big woman," and was of Cree origin, stating as his 
 authorities Father Lacombe and Mgr. Lafleche, both 
 Indian missionaries. The only reasonable objection 
 that I can see against accepting this meaning as being 
 the correct one is the well-known fact that the Indians 
 invariably named rivers, lakes, mountains, etc., in a 
 manner descriptive of the objects themselves, and it 
 is hardly possible that Missisquoi Bay would have 
 reminded them of a big woman. 
 
 As to the spelling of the word, different writers have 
 apparently pleased themselves, but as far back as 
 1771-77 it was spelled in its present form by John Col- 
 lins in his official map of the boundary line between 
 the Province of Quebec and the State of New York. 
 
 I might just mention that the gentleman in the De- 
 partment of Lands, Mines and Fisheries, of whom I 
 made mention just now, told me that the only names 
 of Abenakis origin are to be found in the St. Francis 
 district, such as Magog, Memphremagog, Coaticook, 
 etc. 
 
 As far is I can find, there are no records in the De- 
 partment of Crown Lands setting forth the reasons 
 for naming the county as at present styled. 
 
 Eegretting our inability to secure for you any defi- 
 nite information on this subject, and trusting you will 
 find the record of use, I have the honor to be, sir, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Gr. Alfked Morris, 
 
 Private Secretary. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 63 
 
 The following letters addressed to Mr. Gr. Alfred 
 Morris were transmitted to me by him with the fore- 
 going letter : 
 
 The Missisquoi County Historical Society. 
 
 Cowansville, Que., 13th March, 1905. 
 
 Gr. Alfred Morris, Esq., Secretary, 
 Quebec. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have been hunting among my treasures 
 for my historical scrap-book to give you the informa- 
 tion required, but it has gone astray for the moment. 
 I have written William Mead Pattison, Esq., of Clar- 
 enceville, who wrote something about it in the Star 
 a few years ago, to forward the meaning to Mr. Mc- 
 Corkill. 
 
 I remember that one meaning I had of Missisquoi 
 was that it was an Indian word meaning "much 
 water-fowl." I have also heard that it was an Indian 
 word meaning "damn the Dutch," in allusion to 
 alleged early settlers. This can scarcely be, because I 
 think it had that name before the Dutch came. I 
 incline to the opinion that "much water-fowl" is the 
 true meaning, but if Mr. Pattison gives another I 
 should be disposed to accept it, for he has given much 
 time to local research. 
 
 It has been spelled various ways, even in early acts 
 of Parliament. The present form of spelling is quite 
 modern. It has been spelled Missiskouie, Missiskoui, 
 Missisque, Missisko, and lastly Missisquoi. The first 
 form, "Missiskouie," was employed by the late Leon 
 Lalanne, the first notary public in this district, and 
 who practiced here from 1799 to 1845. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Jno. P. Noyes. 
 
64 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 Clakenceville, P. Q., March 15, 1905. 
 
 My dear Mr. McCorkill: J. P. Noyes, P.S.C., our en- 
 ergetic President of the Missisquoi Historical Society, 
 writes me to give you what I know of the origin of the 
 name Missisquoi. Some years since I replied to an 
 inquiry in the Montreal Daily Star, and my conclu- 
 sions were that Missisquoi and Mississippi took their 
 names from the Mississauga tribe of friendly Indians. 
 I find in the report of Archives of Canada for the year 
 1899, page 45, that in the transactions for 1704, a 
 council was held at Fort Pontchartrain, in which the 
 Hurons, Miamis and four other tribes are named with 
 the Mississaugas. 
 
 If I remember right, Fort Pontchartrain was near 
 the mouth of the Mississippi. The tribe in question 
 may have been nomadic. I find frequent reference to 
 them along the borders of Vermont, as well as in this 
 Province. In the former, we have Missisquoi River in 
 Franklin County, Vermont. 
 
 This has always been the only conclusion I could 
 come to, and it seems reasonable. As you know, the 
 origin of our cities, towns and counties is first from 
 the French, as the Hundred Associates awarded seign- 
 ioral grants to numbers of DeCalliere's regiment, In- 
 dians and English. 
 
 I am very glad to have the question raised, for it 
 is time it was settled. I will write to the Secretary of 
 the Vermont Historical Society, who has hitherto sent 
 me any information or papers asked for. I will keep 
 to work on the question till something more definite is 
 arrived at, and will be pleased to advise you of the 
 progress made. The Vermont Historical Society has 
 over one thousand bound books in their library at 
 Montpelier, and I wish our Missisquoi Society could 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 65 
 
 make a start in this direction. Would not the Quebec 
 government give us a starter? 
 
 If we had "Parkman's History of Canada/' I think 
 likely the derivation of Missisquoi could be established. 
 "Parkman's History of Canada " should be in the Par- 
 liamentary Library at Quebec, and should you find 
 time to search for the origin of our county name and 
 meet with success, I trust you will give our Historical 
 Society the benefit of your research. 
 
 I wish a joint meeting of the Brome and Missisquoi 
 societies could be held sometime during the summer 
 at Cowansville or Sweet sburg. I would be glad to 
 lend a helping hand. Am suggesting to our President 
 and Secretary a meeting at Isle-aux-noix, and if it 
 materializes, I will let you know the date and how to 
 reach there. 
 
 With assurance of my high regards, I am, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Wm. Mead Pattison. 
 Hon. J. C. McCorkill. 
 
 Clarenceville, P. Q., March 16, 1905. 
 My dear Mr. McCorkill: Since my letter of yester- 
 day, I have been reading Sir J. Gr. Bourinot's work, 
 "The Story of Canada,' 'published by the Copp-Clarke 
 Co., Limited, Toronto. Chapter VIII, "The Canadian 
 Indians and the Iroquois," page 123, probably the 
 Allegeni who gave their names to the Alleganies, etc., 
 seems to strengthen my view that theMississaguas may 
 have left Missisquoi in our county, and the river and 
 valley of that name in northern Vermont. The idea 
 that Mississippi came from the same source is prepos- 
 terous, as that name translated into English is mighty 
 river or father of waters ; Missouri, great muddy river. 
 
 5 
 
66 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 As Missisquoi is evidently of Indian origin, the ques- 
 tion comes up as to its meaning. The name must 
 have been adopted in 1797, as it then appears in the 
 "Act for Dividing the Province of Lower Canada into 
 Counties." (Given in historical notes in the News of 
 Feb. 24.) 
 
 What we want to get at is the derivation of Missis- 
 quoi — which is clearly a name of Indian origin. The 
 people of northern Vermont should be as inquisitive 
 on this point as we are, and I will write to-day 
 to the secretary of the Vermont Historical Society, 
 also a professor in the University of Vermont, Bur- 
 lington, Vt. Am bound to stick to it, and with your 
 and Mr. Noyes' co-operation, I think I will strike bed 
 pan in time. If you could find in some public library, 
 T. H. Morgan's book, "The League of the Iroquois 
 and Braves, and Home Life of the Aborigines/' pos- 
 sibly some information could be got out of it. 
 
 I have a book, viz., "History of the Indians," but 
 as I cannot find it in my library, conclude it is lent! 
 Will be spending some time in Montreal early in the 
 summer, and will hunt up some work on the aborigines 
 in Redpath, lot 22, or at Frazier Institute. If I make 
 any progress in the matter will let you know. 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 William Mead Pattison. 
 Hon. J. C. McCokkill. 
 
 Quebec, P. Q., March 18, 1905. 
 
 William Mead Pattison, Esq., 
 Claeenceville, P. Q. 
 Bear Sir: — I beg to acknowledge receipt of your 
 favors of the 15th and 16th insts. relating to the origin 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 67 
 
 of the name Missisquoi. Please accept my sincere 
 thanks for the trouble you have given yourself, and 
 the information contained in your letters. Any 
 further information you can give me will be highly 
 appreciated. Y ours very truly, 
 
 J. C. McCoRKILL. 
 
 Quebec, March 20, 1905. 
 The Librarian of 
 
 the McGtll University Library, 
 Montreal, P. Q. 
 Dear Sir: — I am desirous of obtaining for my Min- 
 ister, the Hon. Mr. McCorkill, Provincial Treasurer, 
 the etymology of the word "Missisquoi," the name of 
 one of the counties comprising the Eastern Townships. 
 Any information you can give me will be greatly ap- 
 preciated. 
 
 Thanking you in anticipation, on behalf of the Min- 
 ister, I am, Yours sincerely, 
 
 G. Alfred Morris, 
 Private Secretary. 
 
 Office of the Archivist, 
 
 Ottawa, Ont., March 21, 1905. 
 
 My dear Minister: About the same time that I re- 
 ceived your inquiry re "Missisquoi," I received a 
 letter from Dr. McAleer of Worcester, Mass., on this 
 same subject. 
 
 I made my inquiries at the time, and wrote to several 
 priests whom I thought would know something about 
 the origin of the word, but without success. I then 
 looked up all the Indian dictionaries, and from this 
 
68 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 the word appears to be Algonquin, and I gave Dr. Mc- 
 Aleer the result of my investigation. 
 
 In Algonquin Miskwaw means red, and Miskwi, 
 blood. I find that syllables such as "is" are often 
 duplicated in words, and by this process Mis (is) kwi 
 gives the word. I know nothing about the applica- 
 tion of the word to the district or to the river, possi- 
 bly it may have been given to commemorate some 
 bloody engagement. 
 
 The Abenakis were a branch of the Algonquins, and 
 inhabited St. Francis District in quite early times. 
 
 I have looked up everything we have here, but there 
 is no further light to be thrown on the question. The 
 spelling varies : Missiscuoi, Missiskwi, Misisskwa, 
 etc., in the early records. 
 
 Pardon me for not writing before. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 A. Gr. Doughty. 
 
 Ontario Legislative Library. 
 
 Toronto, Ont., March 22, 1905. 
 
 Gr. Alfred Morris, Esq., 
 Quebec, P. Q. 
 
 Bear Sir: In reply to your letter, I am not a deep 
 Indian language scholar, but I think the etymology of 
 "Missisquoi" is clear. In all the Algonquin lan- 
 guages, "missi" means great, much, big, many. The 
 last syllable I take to be a French or English attempt 
 to render l l ikwew ' ' a woman, usually a ' ' squaw. ' ' 
 The whole word would mean "the great woman." 
 
 I write this subject to correction at the hands of any- 
 
 bod y- Yours faithfully, 
 
 Avern Pardoe. 
 
Etymology op Missisquoi. 69 
 
 McGill University Library. 
 
 Montreal, P. Q., March 28th, 1905. 
 
 Dear Sir: I duly received a note from your private 
 secretary, dated March 20th, asking if I could obtain 
 for you the etymology of the word Missisquoi. It has 
 taken some time to get any information about it, the 
 dictionaries of Indian languages which we have being 
 apparently insufficient for the purpose. I have, how- 
 ever, corresponded with the Rev. Ernest M. Taylor, 
 Secretary of the Brome County Historical Society, 
 and also with Dr. David Boyle of the Provincial Mu- 
 seum, Toronto. From them I obtained the following 
 information: Dr. Boyle and Mr. Aubrey White, a 
 friend of his, think that the word is of Cree origin, 
 although they cannot understand how Cree dialect 
 should have been used as far east as Missisquoi. If 
 the word is of Cree origin, its etymology would be as 
 follows : Mishi — big, and Ishkew — woman ; so that the 
 word would mean big ivoman. This, however, seems 
 neither an appropriate nor a probable derivation, and 
 the following seems to me greatly to be preferred, 
 namely, treating the word as of Abenakis origin, which 
 would give it the meaning of much water-fowl. This 
 latter derivation is what Mr. Taylor gives. He says 
 the name has been given to both the north and south 
 branches of the river. The first starts from a small 
 lake or pond at Eastman village, and the south branch 
 comes in from Vermont. These join at Mansonville 
 Station, in Potton, P. Q., and the bay on Lake Cham- 
 plain, into which the river empties, also bears the name 
 of Missisquoi. The representatives of the earliest 
 families state that the wild ducks and wild geese were 
 very abundant. The word has been spelled Missisco 
 and Missiskoui. Do you not think that this latter 
 
70 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 derivation is at least a probable one! I have been 
 able to obtain nothing further in connection with the 
 word. 
 
 I remain, dear sir, 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 C. H. GrOULD, 
 
 University Librarian. 
 The Honoeable 
 
 THE PeOVINCIAL TbEASUEEE, 
 
 Quebec, P. Q. 
 
 Smithsonian Institution. 
 Bureau of American Ethnology. 
 
 Washington, D. C, April 15, 1905. 
 
 Dear Sir: Your letter of April 13, making inquiries 
 regarding the Indian term Missisquoi, is at hand. 
 Without knowing the history of the term, it is impossi- 
 ble to give a full and satisfactory definition; but it is 
 an Algonquin word, and, as it stands, would seem to 
 be made up of the two elements, missi, " great, large, 
 much," and assisku, "mud, soft clay." The first part 
 of the word corresponds to the first syllables in our 
 two words, Mississippi and Missouri. The second 
 part corresponds more closely to the second part of 
 the word Missouri, which signifies turbid; the second 
 part of the word Missisquoi signifying, however, 
 simply soft clay or mud. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 W. H. Holmes, 
 Chief. 
 Me. G-. Alfeed Mobeis, 
 Teeasueee's Office, 
 Quebec, Canada. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 71 
 
 Quebec, P. Q., April 18th, 1905. 
 Dear Sir: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your es- 
 teemed favor of the 15th inst. giving me your defini- 
 tion of the Indian word "Missisquoi," and to heartily 
 thank you on behalf of the Hon. Mr. McCorkill for 
 your courteous and prompt attention to my request 
 for information on this subject. 
 I have the honor to be, sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 G-. Alfbed Moeeis, 
 
 Private Secretary. 
 W. H. Holmes, Esq., 
 
 Smithsonian Institution, 
 
 Bueeau of Ameeican Ethnology, 
 Washington, D. C, U.S.A. 
 
 Quebec, July 11th, 1905. 
 Rev. L. S. Geangee, S. J., 
 Caughnawaga, P. Q. 
 Rev. and dear Sir: I have received your name indi- 
 rectly through Mr. Tancred Rinfret of Quebec, as 
 being one who would likely be able to give me some 
 information on the subject of the etymology of the 
 word "Missisquoi," the name of one of the counties 
 comprising the Eastern Townships. Any informa- 
 tion you can give me will be greatly appreciated. 
 
 Thanking you in anticipation of a reply, on behalf 
 of my Minister, the Hon. Mr. McCorkill, Provincial 
 Treasurer, I have the honor to be, reverend and dear 
 sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Gr. Alfeed Moeeis, 
 Private Secretary. 
 
72 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 Kanawake, P. Q., July 13, 1905. 
 
 Me. Alfred Morris, 
 
 Seceetaey of the Bueeau of the 
 Provincial Teeasueee. 
 
 Sir: I regret very much not to be able to give you 
 any definite information in regard to the word Missis- 
 quoi. As yet, I have studied only the Iroquois lan- 
 guage, and, judging by the spelling, this word does 
 not seem to be Iroquois. That is all that I can say. 
 
 In changing the manner of writing Indian words to 
 their way, the whites have caused much difficulty. To 
 cite only one example : In the word 6 1 Caughnawaga, ' ' 
 how now to recognize the Iroquois word "Kanawake," 
 which means "by the rapids." 
 
 The Parliament at Ottawa have decided to print on 
 the new cards "Kanawake" instead of Caughnawaga, 
 a word coined by the Bostonians. 
 
 Hoping that this example will illustrate, please 
 accept my respectful salutations. 
 
 Your most devoted servant, 
 
 L. S. Granger, S. J. 
 
 Caughnawaga, July 15, 1905. 
 G. Alfred Morris, Secretary. 
 
 Dear Sir: I received your favor of the 11th current. 
 As it stands, "Missisquoi" is not an Iroquoian word, 
 but an old Indian, to whom I mentioned it, said that 
 it is an Algonquin word — "Tsisquoi" — stop. When 
 I was among the Crees, I used to say often : ' ' Tsisquoi ! 
 tsisquoi!" "Stop! stop!" he said. 
 
 The Iroquois have no "m" in their language, but 
 Algonquins have it. So 1 1 Missisquoi ' ' may be of their 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 73 
 
 tongue. I confess that I am not competent to judge 
 of that. Respectfully yours, 
 
 Akt. Melancon, S. J. 
 
 Hoping at last to get information that would tend 
 to harmonize the many conflicting intrepretations and 
 explanations given, and which seemed to multiply and 
 mystify as my investigations proceeded, I next ad- 
 dressed the following letter to the editor of the Amer- 
 ican Anthropologist: 
 
 Worcester Mass., July 24, 1905. 
 
 Editor American Anthropologist, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Bear Sir: I am very desirous to learn the origin 
 and signification of the Indian place name now spelled 
 Missisquoi, but which has undergone many orthograph- 
 ical changes, some of the earlier forms being Michis- 
 coui, Missiskuoos, Missiskoue, Missesco, etc. This is 
 the name of a river in northern Vermont, and of a bay 
 on the northern end of Lake Champlain which extends 
 into the Province of Quebec. 
 
 Authorities, living and dead, differ much as to its 
 origin and signification. I am very anxious to have 
 the matter authoritatively and definitely determined, 
 and I appeal to you for assistance. Will you not 
 kindly render me this service or put me in communi- 
 cation with some one who will? I will gladly make 
 compensation for such service. 
 
 Craving pardon for this trespass upon your valua- 
 ble time, and thanking you in advance for the courtesy 
 of your consideration and aid, I am, 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 GrEORGE McAlEER. 
 
74 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 To which I received the following reply : 
 
 New York, N. Y., July 26, 1905. 
 
 Dear Sir: Your favor directed to Washington and 
 kindly remailed to me by the editor of the American 
 Anthropologist, is just received. I have never taken 
 any interest in the study of Indian onomatology, since 
 it is very unsatisfactory. 
 
 The Jesuit missionaries say that the word Missis- 
 quoi is a corruption of Cree Mis iskew (pronounced 
 Miss-is-kway-oo), "big woman," but I have seen no 
 reason given for its application. 
 
 The spelling Missisquoi is French, and formerly in 
 that language oi was pronounced like the present 
 French close e, and perhaps may be so still in Canada. 
 If the above explanation is correct, the word would be 
 from Mis, '"large," "big," "great," and Iskewe, 
 
 woman. ' ' y ery tmly yourg? 
 
 W. R. Gerard. 
 Dr. George McAleer. 
 
 I next addressed the following letter to the Statisti- 
 cal Department of the Government of the Dominion of 
 Canada : 
 
 Worcester, Mass., August 28, 1905. 
 
 Mr. George Johnson, Statistician, 
 Department of Agriculture, 
 Ottawa, Ont. 
 Dear Sir: If the following information can be sup- 
 plied by your office, I shall esteem it a very great favor 
 to be put in possession of the same. 
 
 In what year was the County of Missisquoi, one of 
 the counties constituting the Eastern Township, so 
 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 75 
 
 called, in the Province of Quebec, surveyed and estab- 
 lished as a county? 
 
 What event or events led up to its survey and estab- 
 lishment? i. e., was it surveyed and established by the 
 government with a view to its disposal as farms to 
 colonists and settlers, as a whole to an association or 
 corporation of land speculators, or as a benefaction or 
 benefactions for military service? Who bestowed the 
 name Missisquoi thereon! Why was this name se- 
 lected ? Who or what body of men officially sanctioned 
 its use? 
 
 Craving your indulgence for this trespass upon your 
 valuable time, and thanking you in advance for the 
 courtesy of your consideration and aid, I am, 
 Yours most respectfully, 
 
 GrEORGE McAlEER. 
 
 To which I received the following reply: 
 
 Dominion of Canada. 
 
 Statistical Branch, 
 
 Department of Agriculture. 
 
 Ottawa, 30th August, 1905. 
 
 George McAleer, Esq., M.D., 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Bear Sir: In answer to yours of the 28th inst., I have 
 to say: 1st. The County of Missisquoi appears first 
 in the census of 1827. It does not appear in that of 
 1825. In this last mentioned census (1825) Bedford 
 is given with a population of 29,735. In the census of 
 1827, Bedford disappears and Missisquoi appears 
 with a population of 7,766. 
 
 There was evidently a redistribution of that part of 
 
76 Etymology op Missisquoi. 
 
 the Eastern Townships about 1826, for census and 
 other purposes. 
 
 By Chap. 73, 9 George IV (1828- '29), the boundaries 
 of electoral divisions were set forth and Missisquoi 
 (spelled Missiskoui), it was then decreed, "should con- 
 sist of the township of Sutton, the Seigniory of St. 
 Armand, and the townships of Dunham and Stan- 
 bridge. ' ' 
 
 2d. I have the following note on the second point 
 mentioned in your letter. At the epoch of the cession 
 of Canada to the English Sovereign, the greater part 
 of the region now called the "Eastern Townships " 
 was the property of the Crown, the grants made by 
 the French King, having been limited, for the most 
 part to the seigniories along the river St. Lawrence 
 and the principal tributaries. 
 
 The British administration undertook, at the begin- 
 ning of its regime, the colonization of the wild lands. 
 Its attention was early directed to the solitudes, which, 
 cleared and settled, now form the Province of Ontario, 
 where the virgin forests were surveyed and divided 
 into regular portions under the name of townships 
 after the mode adopted in the neighboring states. 
 
 Later on, the same surveyors were directed to the 
 "Bois Franc " country, and by 1792 the first official 
 surveys were completed in the wilds situated between 
 the seigniories on the river bank and the boundary 
 line, and called "townships in the east," as the first 
 were "townships in the west." The first grant was 
 made by Lord Dorchester in 1796, that of 40,895 acres 
 in Dunham township, to Thomas Dunn. 
 
 Thomas Dunn was a speculator and he and others 
 secured large areas which, later on, led to much dis- 
 pute, the causes of which you will find set forth in 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 77 
 
 appendix No. 2, W. to K. K., Journals of Canada, Vol. 
 X, 1851. 
 
 3d. Who bestowed the name Missisquoi, or as 
 spelled in the Statute of IX, George IV, Missiskoui? 
 
 There has been considerable controversy over this. 
 I am assured by competent authorities that it is neither 
 an Algonquin, a Huron nor an Iroquois word. 
 
 If that is so, then it must be an Abenakis word, like 
 Megantic, Memphremagog and one or two others. If 
 Abenakis, it must have been given by one of the 
 Abenakis tribe of savages pushed back from the At- 
 lantic shore by the English settlements of Massachu- 
 etts, etc., and forced by the policy of the New Engend- 
 ers to form alliance with the French. 
 
 An Abenakis word, compounded, would, like the 
 other Indian tribal place-names, have Missi, to mean 
 "big," "large," but big what? In the case of Missis- 
 quoi, my friend, Eev. E. Taylor of Knowlton, writing 
 to me only a week or ten days ago, thinks quoi comes 
 from quequecum, which means duck, so Missisquoi 
 would mean "much duck." 
 
 Others think they see in quoi, or rather squoi, a re- 
 semblance to the Indian word from which we take the 
 word squaw. Hence that Missisquoi means "big 
 woman. ' ' 
 
 My own view is that the Abenakis first found lodg- 
 ment along the banks of the river, which being full of 
 large rocks or boulders, they called Missisquoi because 
 of the number and size of the rocks in the river bed. 
 The name was later on transferred to the bay, and 
 thence naturally to the county when it was created. 
 
 Trusting that the above will be of service, I am, 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 George Johnson, 
 
 Statistician. 
 
78 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 Judge Grirouard's article was next received and is 
 herewith reproduced: 
 
 The Etymology of the Word Missisquoi. 
 
 (Translated from "Le Bulletin des Becherckes Historiques. " ) 
 
 When in 1903 I announced in the preface of my 
 ' ' Supplement to Lake St. Louis ' ' that I was withdraw- 
 ing from the field of historical research — and I may 
 explain here that it was in order to devote myself ex- 
 clusively to the preparation of my ever-increasing 
 judicial work — I was far from foreseeing that I would 
 so soon return to it, in an attempt to discover the 
 origin of an Indian name, practically insignificant, but 
 which seems, however, to have excited the interest of 
 the antiquaries on the other side of the frontier for 
 many months. I could not resist the pleasure of ren- 
 dering a service to an enquirer of Worcester, Mass., 
 who asked me the etymology of the word Missisquoi, 
 a name given to a little river in the northern part of 
 the State of Vermont, to a bay of Lake Champlain, 
 and to a county in the Province of Quebec. Everyone 
 knows that it is Indian, like the origin of the names, 
 which have been preserved, of many rivers, lakes and 
 localities, for there is no doubt but that the indigenous 
 races had a geography of their own, in fact, it is 
 probable that each nation had its own, going back to 
 an antiquity more or less remote. Now that the lan- 
 guages of the Indian tribes are dying out, slowly, it is 
 true, but nevertheless surely — the Hurons being a 
 striking example, as we shall soon see — the unpub- 
 lished dictionaries (French-Indian and vice-versa) of 
 the old missionaries, among others that of Father 
 Auberi, S. J., missionary of the Abenaquis of Saint 
 
FRENCH 
 
 GRANTS OF 
 
 LAND 
 
 ON 
 
 LAKE 
 CHAMPLAIN 
 
 A 
 
 Contrecour 
 
 B 
 
 de la Periere 
 
 C 
 
 de Beauvois 
 
 D 
 
 Lusignan 
 
 E 
 
 Daine 
 
 F 
 
 Bleury 
 
 G 
 
 Sabervois 
 
 H 
 
 de Noyau 
 
 1 
 
 Focault 
 
 K 
 
 Lafontaine 
 
 L 
 
 Contrecour 
 
 M 
 
 St. Vincent 
 
 N 
 
 La Gauchetiere 
 
 
 
 Pean 
 
 P 
 
 Beaujeu 
 
 Q 
 
 La Ronde 
 
 R 
 
 de Lery 
 
 8 
 
 Longueil 
 
 T 
 
 Mrs. Hertelle 
 
 U 
 
 Robert 
 
 X 
 
 Fort St. Jean 
 
 Y 
 
 Fort St. Therese 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 H 
 15 
 
 RIVERS 
 Aux Loutres 
 Boquette 
 Ouinousqui 
 Au Sable 
 a la Mouelle 
 St. Amant 
 Chazy 
 a la Cole 
 duSud 
 Brochette 
 du Rocher 
 Michiscouy 
 
 16 Point a 1' Algonquin 
 
 Reproduced from 
 
 SIEUR AUGER'S MAP 
 
 Made in 1722. 
 
 Engraved expressly for 
 
 THE ETYMOLOGY OF MISSISQUOI 
 
 By George McAleer, M.D. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 79 
 
 Frangois du Lac from 1708 to 1755, and other similar 
 ones of the missionaries of different tribes, are of great 
 vahie from an historical point of view, and before long 
 they will be indispensable. The Canadian pnblic has 
 always been so indifferent with regard to the aborigi- 
 nes of this country, that Father Bnrtin, the missionary 
 of Sault Saint Louis, an expert in Indian languages, 
 could not find a printer for his history of the Indians 
 of his mission — a mission so closely connected with 
 that of Montreal ; he has told me of this himself. The 
 Department of Archives really should buy these pre- 
 cious manuscripts. 
 
 From what nation does the name Missisquoi come? 
 To what dialect does it belong? 
 
 In order to facilitate the solution of the problem, I 
 first searched for the different authentic spellings of 
 the name. The archives and the old maps reproduced 
 by Justin Winsor and Faillon, — among others a map of 
 1660 (3 Faillon, 124) which shows plainly Lake 
 Champlain, and its actual name, — make no mention of 
 Missisquoi Bay, although it is clearly traced thereon. 
 The oldest document that speaks of it is the concession 
 made on the 6th of April, 1733, to the Sieur de Lusig- 
 nan of a seigniory at Missiskouy Bay (la Baie de Mis- 
 siskouy), (Titres Seigneuriaux, t. ler, p. 164). The 
 name, however, must have been known by the French 
 long before this. Another official document, written 
 in the English language, reproduced verbatim by Mr. 
 John P. Noyes, K. C, president of the Historical So- 
 ciety of the County of Missisquoi, in his interesting 
 study on the "Early Settlers in the District of Bed- 
 ford," pages 15 and 16, mentions Missisquie Bay. In 
 1815, Bouchette, in the "Topographical Description 
 of Lower Canada," pages 185 to 190, spells it Missis- 
 
80 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 qui Bay. This was the English pronunciation of the 
 old name Missiskouy. Furthermore, in the old Revised 
 Statutes of Lower Canada, of 1845, there may be found 
 a law fixing the limits of the electoral divisions of 
 Lower Canada, passed in 1828 (9 Geo. IV, c. 73), where 
 the County of Missiskoui is described. Finally, in 
 1853, at the time of the division of Lower Canada into 
 districts, it may be observed that the orthography was 
 changed, and the Legislature, for the first time, I think, 
 adopted the spelling which has been invariably used 
 since, namely, Missisquoi. This is sanctioned by the 
 Consolidated Statutes of Lower Canada of 1860, the 
 British North America Act, 1867, and all the diction- 
 aries, maps and books of modern geography. Evi- 
 dently they adopted a French spelling, which agrees 
 perhaps better with the euphony of the word. 
 
 But what is the meaning of the name? Being a 
 stranger to Indian dialects, I made inquiries of the mis- 
 sionaries" of the different tribes of the Province, and of 
 the antiquaries of the district, and it will be seen that it 
 was not an easy task to reach a satisfactory solution. 
 I asked of them all the origin of the name Missisquoi 
 or Missiskouy. My first reply was from Mr. John P. 
 Noyes of Cowansville. It is dated the 23d of May, 
 1905. I will quote it word for word : 
 
 "I am unable to give an absolutely definite answer 
 to your query as to the origin and meaning of 'Mis- 
 sisquoi.' I have been trying for some time to run it 
 to earth, and have pretty well satisfied myself, but in 
 such matters one must have an open mind. When one 
 has to rely largely on tradition, there is always an 
 element of doubt, even in the best considered theory. 
 
 "The definitions given allege Indian origin, but 
 Indian is an indefinite term. One wants to know the 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 81 
 
 particular dialect and tribal peculiarities. The local- 
 ity of Missisquoi Bay, from which the county is named, 
 was frequented by the Iroquois and Algonquins, and 
 possibly by the Hurons, and must have been christened 
 something by them. I am told that the first syllable 
 of Mississippi and Missouri rivers — Indian names — 
 means water, and if true helps my belief as to the name 
 of Missisquoi. 
 
 ' ' The definitions, so far as I know, are two — at least 
 those advocated in print: 1. An Indian name mean- 
 ing 'much water-fowl.' 2. An Indian name meaning 
 'old squaw.' I accept the first, 'much water-fowl.' 
 
 "Missisquoi Bay, from the earliest days, was, and is, 
 famous for the large quantity and variety of its water- 
 fowl, being on the highway of the migratory fowls 
 between our north and their southern winter home. 
 Its sheltered waters make a safe, natural resting place. 
 Indian names are largely adopted from their habits 
 as to eating and war. Missisquoi Bay was a place to 
 which they resorted to hunt and fish, according to tra- 
 dition. It seems quite natural, and according to Indian 
 traits, that the name 'much water-fowl' should have 
 been given to a place where game was so abundant. 
 The early settlers relate that the flocks of fowl at cer- 
 tain seasons near the bay were so large and dense that 
 the sun would be obscured during their flight as though 
 darkened by a cloud. There were no natural marks 
 about the bay of such distinctive character as to sug- 
 gest a name. In addition to the foregoing, a very old 
 man of the county wrote in a local paper some years 
 ago that he was taught some sixty years before that 
 'Missisquoi' was an Indian name meaning 'much 
 water-fowl." Thus we have tradition, presumptions 
 and Indian traits in accord. 
 
82 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 "To the definition 'old squaw,' I attach no impor- 
 tance. I can find neither tradition nor circumstance 
 for its support. It may have been inferred from a 
 broad pronunciation, Misses-Squaw — misses being the 
 ordinary country name for mistress or madam, and 
 therefore presumedly old. It could just as well mean 
 miss or young squaw. But the spelling of to-day is 
 not that of the old time. Three-quarters of a century 
 ago, and before, and even for some time after, it was 
 spelled 'Missiskoui.' Papers in the Dominion archives 
 show that in 1785 it was spelled ' Missisquie. ' It is 
 only about half a century since the present name 
 received a statutory endorsement. I have no access 
 to the archives, nor anything else, to show what Mis- 
 sisquoi Bay was called during the French regime. 
 Being on the war route between the St. Lawrence and 
 the New England settlements, it must have had a dis- 
 tinctive name. 
 
 "I have hoped many times that a query like yours 
 would be sent to that excellent publication, the 'Bul- 
 letin des Recherches Historiques.' I did not dare to 
 put my feeble French on record in a periodical sub- 
 mitted to so many scholarly eyes." 
 
 And recently, in the News, published in St. 
 John, P. Q., of the 23d of June, 1905, Mr. Noyes, under 
 the pen name of "Wayside "Warbler," adds: 
 
 "There is an old text-book recently placed in my 
 hands which tells a story of its own. It was printed 
 in the Eastern Townships, in its youthful days, as a 
 text-book for the English schools of the Province, and 
 its cover bears the title, 'Geography and History of 
 Lower Canada, Designed for the Use of Schools, by 
 Zadok Thompson, A.M., late Preceptor of Charleston 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 83 
 
 (Hatley) Academy, Stanstead and Sherbrooke, L. C, 
 Published by Walton & Gaylord, 1835.' ... In that 
 geography the County of Missisquoi is called Missisko, 
 as to which I find the following footnote touching upon 
 a still debatable matter : ' The orthography of this word 
 is very unsettled. It has been written Missisquoi, Mis- 
 sisqui, Missique, Missiskoui and Missisco; but it is, I 
 believe, pretty uniformly pronounced as if written 
 Missisco, and this I consider the preferable way of 
 spelling it, because it is most easily pronounced, is 
 shorter and most conformable to the original, if, as 
 has been said, the name is derived from the two Indian 
 words, Missi — much, and Kisko — water-fowl. The 
 name Missiskisko is said to have been given by the 
 natives to the bay and river on account of the abun- 
 dance of water-fowl in and about there, and Missi- 
 kisko was at length shortened to Missisco. It after- 
 wards became the name of a county.' The meaning 
 of the name, adds Mr. Noyes, given by him is also 
 borne out by the traditions of the inhabitants.' ' 
 
 Next, Mr. Ernest Eacicot, K. C, of Sweetsburg, 
 another enthusiastic delver into the past, wrote to me 
 the same day: 
 
 "From what I have often heard, the word Missisquoi 
 means 'much water-fowl.' Even to-day the wild geese 
 and ducks — while migrating from south to north in 
 the spring, and from north to south in the autumn — 
 make a stop at Missisquoi Bay, where hunters gather 
 to wait for them. Formerly when the surroundings 
 of the bay were wooded, and were only frequented now 
 and again by Indians, these birds must have gone 
 there, and stayed there during their voyage, in much 
 greater numbers. I have reason to believe that 'mis' 
 
84 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 or ' missis' means 'water/ as in Mississippi and Mis- 
 souri. The syllable 'quoi' (which has been written in 
 many ways, as 'koi,' 'kow,' 'quoi,' etc.) resembles 
 'quoi' of the name Iroqnois. All this is Indian. It is 
 probable that before the arrival of the French at the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century, all the lake (now 
 Champlain), south of the bay, must have had an Indian 
 name, probably Missisquoi, or some name like it. The 
 name of this country must come from the old name of 
 the bay." 
 
 On the other hand, an old missionary of Sault Saint 
 Louis, who is familiar with the Iroquois tongue, has 
 written me that the name is not of Iroquois origin, 
 and that he believes it to be Algonquin. 
 
 Another missionary who has been with the Algonquins 
 of Oka for a great number of years, replied to me that 
 Missisquoi ('read it,' he remarked, 'Missiskaw,' by 
 reason of its etymology') is not Algonquin. 
 
 "In Algonquin," he said, "the root word 'Mis' 
 means big, great, enormous. Mis-abe, a big man, a 
 giant; Mis-abos, a big hare, an ass, because of its ears ; 
 Misisipi, big river, Mississippi (Chateaubriand writes 
 it 'Meschacebe' and translates 'Father of the Waters,' 
 wherein he is mistaken). The Indians inhabiting the 
 banks of the Ottawa used to call it 'Kissisipi,' the 
 Grand Eiver, one which receives many tributaries. 
 Not far from Ottawa we find the little ' Missisipins, ' as 
 we find 'La Belle Riviere,' Ohio, in Iroquois. 
 
 "What does the second syllable of Missi-skaw mean! 
 Should one see the word squaw, woman, preserved 
 there in English, and draw conclusions that there was 
 at some time some extraordinary woman at Missis- 
 quoi? Who will tell us! I dare not pause at this 
 hypothesis." 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 85 
 
 I then turned to the missionary of the Hurons of 
 Lorette, near Quebec, who quickly informed me that 
 his Hurons had completely forgotten their language 
 and only spoke French, but he referred me to a priest, 
 born a Huron, who lived at Mastai, near Quebec. This 
 latter answered that the word was not Huron. With- 
 out losing courage, I then sought information from 
 Father de Gonzague, missionary of the Abenakis at St. 
 Thomas de Pierreville. Their village is not very far 
 from the bay in question. Here is what he wrote : 
 
 ' ' The origin of the word Missisquoi is ' Masipskoik, ' 
 a word that means a place where there are boulders, 
 more especiallv 'Pointe de caillous'' (' Boulders 
 Point'). 
 
 "We have enquired among our old Abenakis, and 
 they all agree upon this interpretation as a thing 
 known among them for a long time." 
 
 Mr. Noyes, to whom I communicated this interpre- 
 tation, is not at all convinced that it is correct, and he 
 prefers the one which he has adopted — "much water- 
 fowl. ' ' " Still, ' ' says he, "I have an open mind. ' ' He 
 adds that there are no boulders about the bay, but that 
 quarries, which were worked for construction pur- 
 poses in Montreal, are to be found up to the water's 
 edge. Finally, however, he admits that the Missisquoi 
 Eiver is full of boulders, rapids and falls. 
 
 This fact seems to me to settle the question. It is 
 the river which has given its name to the bay and to 
 the county. So one more tradition is exploded, like so 
 many others, for example, the one that stated that 
 La Salle had built a stone fort at Lachine, whose ruins 
 could yet be seen. Moreover, the tradition of seventy- 
 five years, maintained by Mr. Noyes, is far from being 
 
86 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 an ancient one, and, therefore, qnite insufficient to 
 explain a name that goes back nearly two centuries. 
 Finally it is disposed of by reason of what we know 
 of the Indian languages. ^ p 
 
 Etymology of the Name Missisquoi. 
 (Second Article.) 
 
 (Translated from "Le Bulletin des Becherches Historiques.") 
 
 Since my first article was published in he Bulletin, 
 I have received a long and interesting letter in French 
 from Mr. Joseph Laurent, a former chief of the Abena- 
 kis of St. Frangois, near St. Thomas de Pierreville, 
 from which I take the following passage, which I 
 believe is sufficient for the purpose: 
 
 a j regret exceedingly that your letter of June 14th 
 last, in reference to the name 'Missisquoi,' has been so 
 long unanswered, but it is due to my absence in the 
 White Mountains, N. H., for nearly five months. But, 
 as we generally say, 'better late than never.' 
 
 1 < In giving you the meaning asked of the name ' Mis- 
 sisquoi,' I fear you will not be more satisfied than I 
 am myself about a word spelt in so many different 
 ways, 'Missiquoi' and 'Missiquoy,' according to your 
 letter 1 , and 'Messisco,' 'Messisquoi' and 'Missis 
 quoy' and 'Missiscoug' according to Dr. George Mc- 
 Aleer's 2 letter from Worcester, dated 25th Septem- 
 ber last. 
 
 "In fact, this makes six different ways of spelling, 
 adding my own way, 'Messipskoik' — as that name was 
 
 1 My letter said 7c and not q, in the last word. 
 
 2 The American enquirer referred to in my first article. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 87 
 
 used over sixty years ago, and whose syllables were 
 'Mes-sips-ko-ik' — all distinctly pronounced, the first 5 
 in Mes like all the others, for in our language all the 
 letters are sounded, that is, none are used without a 
 reason. 
 
 "According to the modern language of the Abenakis, 
 we call that place Mas-sips-ko-ik, Massipskoik, which 
 we pronounce Mas-seps-ko-wik, meaning where flint is 
 to be found (Mr. Laurent using the English language). 
 
 "I have never been there, but I am told that flint is 
 always to be found at the said place. ' n 
 
 On the 14th December, instant, Chief Laurent writes 
 me again what he calls his last word. He points out 
 what he stated in his previous letter, that the Abenakis 
 language has undergone so many modifications within 
 the last century that it is almost impossible to give 
 the meaning of names now known to be of Abenakis 
 origin. He concludes by stating that the word "Mas- 
 sipskouik," meaning where flint is to be found, is very 
 much like "Massapskouik," "Massapskouikak," mean- 
 ing where boulders or big stones, de grandes pierres, 
 exist, thus leaving the origin and meaning in doubt. 
 
 Finally, on the 19th December, I received from Mr. 
 Laurent a little vocabulary composed and published 
 by him in 1884 (printed by Brousseau of Quebec), the 
 title being "New Familiar Abenakis and English Dia- 
 logues." No special reference or mark is made, but 
 on perusing it, I found at page 216, under the heading 
 of "Etymology of Indian Names by which are desig- 
 nated certain tribes, towns, rivers, lakes," etc., the fol- 
 lowing illustration: "Missisquoi comes from Masips- 
 koik (Abenakis), where there is flint." 
 
 1 1 am informed by Dr. McAleer that no flint exists at that place. 
 
88 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 Chief Laurent agrees with Father de Gonzague that 
 the etymology of the word " Missisquoi" is Abenakis. 
 This result is not surprising when it is remembered 
 that all the Indians of the New England provinces 1 , 
 now nearly extinct, spoke the Abenakis idiom, which 
 was common to all, except the Micmacs 2 . The Indi- 
 ans gave names to a large number of localities, rivers, 
 lakes, mountains, villages, lands, settlements and coun- 
 tries, which are indicated partly by him and have been 
 preserved to the present day, although in most in- 
 stances more or less disfigured. The word Missisquoi 
 is one of them, although, according to Chief Laurent 
 in his first letter, it means nothing in Abenakis, prob- 
 ably for the reason that it is Frenchified and that the 
 "q" is unknown in that idiom and is always replaced 
 by "k," says Abbe Maurault, page 11. In the grant 
 made to Mr. de Lusignan in 1733, Missisquoi is spelled 
 with a "k" and not a "q." In the ratification of the 
 same by the King in 1735, it is likewise spelled (Can. 
 Ar., 1904, p. 218). We are told by both Mr. de Gonza- 
 gue and Mr. Laurent that the bay in question is now 
 known to the Abenakis Indians by the name of "Mas- 
 sipskoik," and some sixty years ago by that of "Mes- 
 sipskoik," which means " where flint (pierre a fusil) 
 is to be found," and possibly at one time "Massaps- 
 kouik" or "Massapskuikak," where boulders or large 
 stones exist. The meaning of the word sixty years 
 ago varies a little from that of Father de Gonzague; 
 
 1 An old map of Canada, published by P. de Kochemonteix, S. J., 
 in Vol. I of Les Jesuites en la Nouvelle France, shows a vast country, 
 situated to the southeast of Lake Champlain, as being that of the 
 Abenakis. 
 
 2 Hist. des Abenakis, 1866, by Abbe Maurault, one of their mis- 
 sionaries for over thirty years, at pages 6, 9, 10. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 89 
 
 but it is admitted by both that it refers to some kind 
 of stone and not to "water-fowl/' and that possibly 
 it meant boulders or large stones. Mr. de G-onzague, 
 in reply to a query from me, has just answered that in 
 his former letter published, he merely expressed the 
 opinion of the most competent Indians then in the 
 village. Mr. de Gonzague admits that he does not con- 
 sider himself as being acquainted with their language, 
 although it is known that he has been their missionary 
 for many years and is Abenakis by birth. At the time 
 of Mr. Maurault, 1840-1871, the religious service and 
 instruction were conducted in the Indian tongue. For 
 that reason many old Indians are living who well 
 understand the dialect. Mr. Laurent remarks in his 
 last letter that the Indian tongue is yet the prevailing 
 language of the tribe, although familiar with both 
 French and English. Mr. de G-onzague adds that he 
 has no doubt that the spelling and interpretation given 
 by Mr. Laurent are correct. He looks upon him 
 as a reliable authority, familiar with the dialect 
 and its history, and judging from his letters and book 
 he knows what he is talking about. It is evident, 
 however, that he has a predilection for the definition 
 in his book. Taking the conclusion arrived at by the 
 old chief, the French, naturally struck by the sound of 
 the word "Messipskoik" or " Massapskouik, ' ' soon 
 made "Missiskouy," "Missiskoui" and finally " Mis- 
 sisquoi," probably not troubling themselves about its 
 meaning 1 . It was natural that they should take the 
 name from these Indians who, under various names, 
 
 1 As early as in 1739, the President of the French Navy Board 
 writes "Missisquoi" Biver, where the Abenakis were then thinking of 
 moving to.— Can. Ar., 1904, p. 260. 
 
90 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 were to be found dispersed here and there throughout 
 the New England colonies as early as the beginning of 
 the seventeenth century, and after long years of wars 
 with the English, and being very much reduced in 
 numbers, ultimately took refuge in Canada, first at 
 Sillery and St. Francois de la Eiviere Chaudiere near 
 Quebec, and finally, about 1680, at Becancourt and St. 
 Francois near Lake St. Peter and Pierreville of to- 
 day. Les Jesuites en la Nouvelle France, Vol. Ill, p. 
 377, and following by Eochemonteix : Relation par 
 lettres, id. p. 211 ; Maurault, p. 287 1 . 
 
 It may not be without interest to note that the 
 learned Abbe Maurault asserts that Coaticook, Mem- 
 phremagog and Megantic, situated in close proximity 
 to Missisquoi Bay, are also of Abenakis origin, de- 
 rived from the words "Koakitek," river of the land 
 of pines, " Mamhrobagak, ' ' large expanse of water, 
 and " Namesokanjik, " where fishes stay. Mr. Lau- 
 rent, in his letter and his book, does not spell these 
 Indian names like Abbe Maurault, but both — and Mr. 
 de Gonzague agrees with them — tell us that the Abena- 
 kis spoken at the time of Father Aubery, S. J., 1712, 
 had undergone numerous alterations and modifica- 
 tions borrowed from the English and French lan- 
 guages and other sources. Abbe Maurault adds that 
 he finds only the three above names on the map of 
 Canada as being of Abenakis etymology. Mr. Lau- 
 rent, in his book, quotes six or seven others. It seems 
 to me clear that our ancestors, both French and Eng- 
 
 1 The Abenakis of St. Frangois number 374 souls, and those of 
 Becancourt 49. Two small bands of 19 and 23' souls are also to be 
 found in the counties of Quebec and Charlevoix. — Bulletin, VII, pp. 
 135, 136, 138. In 1700, Becancourt and St. Frangois had a population 
 of 1500. — Eochemonteix, Eelation, p. 211. 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 91 
 
 lish, must have felt little difficulty in making "Mis- 
 siskouy," "Missisquie" and "Missisquoi" out of the 
 Abenakis word "Messipskoik," "Massapskouik" or 
 "Masipskoik." 
 
 The admission of Chief Laurent that possibly the 
 Abenakis word meaning where boulders, or de grandes 
 pierres, are to be found, is the true origin of the name 
 Missisquoi, and the fact that there is no flint, but a 
 large quantity of boulders and stone quarries in the 
 locality, seems to me to be conclusive that that word 
 and that meaning is the true one, as contended in my 
 first article. -^ n 
 
 i). (xIROUAKD. 
 
 Ottawa, 30th December, 1905. 
 
 Hoping to get further information on new matter 
 which I discovered in my investigations, and which I 
 think has a bearing upon the subject under considera- 
 tion, I sent the following letter: 
 
 Worcester, Mass., December 18, 1905. 
 Chief Joseph Laurent, 
 
 PlERREVILLE, P. Q. 
 
 My dear Chief: I hasten to express my appreciation 
 and thanks for your letter of December 13th, which 
 came duly to hand. The same mail also brought me 
 a letter from Judge Grirouard, on the same subject, 
 containing data obtained from Father G-onzague and 
 yourself. 
 
 It is so long since the name now spelled Missisquoi 
 was bestowed upon the river in Vermont and the bay 
 on the northern end of Lake Champlain in Canada, 
 and the Abenakis dialect has meanwhile become so 
 modified by amalgamation with the French and Eng- 
 
92 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 lish languages, that at this distant day the attempt to 
 discover the correct etymology of the word may prove 
 a fruitless task. Nevertheless, the information con- 
 tained in your letter encourages the belief that some- 
 thing more definite and reasonable — more conclusive 
 because more in harmony with Indian custom — may 
 yet be brought to light than anything so far discov- 
 ered or offered in explanation of the origin and mean- 
 ing of the word. 
 
 Pursuing my investigations since writing to you, I 
 have found in the Documentary History of New York, 
 published by the State, Albany, 1850, data relating to 
 your ancestors and possibly to the subject now under 
 consideration, extracts from which I transcribe and 
 transmit herewith for your consideration and com- 
 ments thereon. 
 
 In Vol. I, page 18, it is recorded: 
 
 "In the enumeration of the Indian tribes connected 
 with the Government of Canada; the warriors and 
 armorial bearings of each nation, A. D. 1736. Paris, 
 Document VIII: 
 The Abenaquis, one village called Pana8amsket, 
 
 toward the mouth of said river — warriors, 200 
 The 8benakis at the head of said river, one village 
 
 called Narentch8an — warriors, 150 
 
 Becancour, the Abenakis, one village — warriors, 60 
 The 8benakis at St. Francis Village — warriors, 180 
 
 Including those of Michikoui and those who 
 
 migrate. 
 At the Lake of the Two Mountains — The Messissin- 
 
 gues. 
 
 A part of this tribe is incorporated with the 
 
 Iroquois. The remainder has its village at the 
 
 lake of the same name. There are here fifty men 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 93 
 
 bearing arms. The armorial bearings of this 
 nation are the Heron for the Achaque, or Heron 
 tribe; the Beaver for the Amekoves; the Birch 
 for the Birch tribe (la famille de I'Ecorce) ; 
 Blood for the Miskonaha or the bloody people." 
 
 Now, it is well known that in the bestowal of place 
 names the Indians were a very matter-of-fact people, 
 the vainglorious, the hap-hazard, the whimsical, or 
 the ideal never being factors, and you will notice in 
 the above extract that the Indians then at the lake of 
 the Two Mountains had the heron — kesco — for their 
 totem. May not kesco, combined with the adjectival 
 prefix Mse, Misi, Mich, or Michi, be the true origin of 
 the word, as herons — cranes of the present day, collo- 
 quially — have always abounded in large numbers in 
 the sedge and marshes at the mouth of Missisquoi 
 Eiver and along the shores of the bay? 
 
 Another portion of these people were designated 
 the l ' Miskouaha, ' ' or the " bloody people." Does this 
 Miskonaha furnish us with a key to the origin and sig- 
 nification of the word? You will observe that these 
 words were used in A. D. 1736, in the earliest records 
 touching these people, and long before the language 
 was modified as it now is by contact with the whites. 
 May not these Miskouaha — "bloody people" — have 
 been a body of warriors specially selected for their 
 bravery and prowess to contend with their inveterate 
 enemies, the Maquas, and may not their headquarters 
 on the river near the border line dividing them from 
 their foes be of sufficient reason for bestowing this 
 name on the river and thus be quite in harmony with 
 aboriginal custom? 
 
 I note what you say in reference to Mas-seps-ko-wik 
 meaning "where flint is to be found," and also that 
 
94 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 Missisiscoug means "big serpent," "not the ordinary 
 big serpent, but the species named ' boa serpent. ' ' ' It 
 is true that big rocks or boulders abound in the terri- 
 tory about the bay in question, but there is no flint in 
 the vicinity of the bay or river, nor are there any large 
 "boa" or other venomous serpents thereabouts, nor 
 could there have been any in a latitude so far north. 
 While these words might signify flint, and "big," 
 "large" or "boa" serpents, they would not apply to 
 anything true of the place upon which this name was 
 bestowed, and they are, therefore, as it seems to me, 
 inadmissible as explaining the etymology of the word, 
 because they are not in harmony with Indian custom. 
 
 There are numerous rapids and falls in the Missis- 
 quoi Eiver, the largest being near the village of Swan- 
 ton, Vermont, which was formerly the site of the 
 headquarters of the Abenakis, and the noise of these 
 falls, I have been told, reminded them of their Sisi- 
 quois — pronounced See-se-kwah — their rattles or 
 drums, and that calling it the big or great rattle by 
 prefixing Mis completes the word and furnishes an 
 explanation of its meaning. -What do you think of 
 this! 
 
 Have you access to the manuscript dictionary com- 
 piled by Pere Aubery, S. J.f Perhaps by going back 
 to the ancient orthography his work may throw some 
 light upon the origin and signification of this and 
 other words that are claimed to have given the river 
 its name, and thus aid in solving the perplexing rid- 
 dle and establishing the etymology of the word au- 
 thoritatively. 
 
 The earliest form of spelling that I have encoun- 
 tered in my research is that on Sieur Auger's map, 
 made in 1732, where it is spelled Michiscouy, and the 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 95 
 
 next is in a grant of land to Lafontaine in 1733, 
 wherein it is spelled Missiskouy, both being practically 
 the same in spelling and sonnd. To me it seems well 
 to keep the sonnd made by these spellings constantly 
 in mind and not be led astray by the many later mod- 
 ifications. 
 
 Craving your indulgence and again asking your 
 early consideration, valuable aid and early reply, and 
 wishing you the compliments of the Christmas season, 
 believe me, Yours very sincerely, 
 
 George McAleer. 
 
 Under date of February 10, 1906, I received a very 
 lengthy and interesting letter from Chief Laurent in 
 reply, much of which is of the same import as that 
 supplied to Judge Girouard and published in the 
 "Bulletin des Recherches Historiques," a translation 
 of which appears in these pages. 
 
 The Chief says in addition: 
 
 "I have consulted Pere Aubery's Abenakis and 
 French and the French and English dictionary, and 
 I have been unable to find anything at all to help me 
 out. I went all through both books, even to see if q 
 was used in old times and also to see if c was used 
 instead of k, in some instances at least, as we use it 
 in both French and English in the name Canada, and 
 I am in position to affirm positively that q was not in 
 use at ail by Indian scholars and writers, but that it 
 was k that always performed the function of c in other 
 languages. I also remark that r as used in old times 
 is now, and has been for many years back, replaced 
 by I. As an illustration: my ancestors would have 
 said Arnanba, an Indian, but now say Alnoba. 
 
96 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 "You see, therefore, by the change that the lan- 
 guage has undergone, that it is very difficult to find 
 out the meaning of old words, especially when cor- 
 rupted by the many misspellings of the whites. 
 
 "If Masipskoik or Massapskoik, both of which mean 
 where there are many big rocks or boulders, was not 
 the original meaning, Messimskikoik, where there is 
 an abundance of tall grass or hay, could possibly be 
 the aboriginal name. 
 
 "I wish I could give you the undoubted etymology 
 of Missisquoi, but my knowledge and all my searches 
 in books do not lead me to any other conclusion but 
 this idea: That it means the great grassy place or 
 valley, considering the fact, as you say, of abundance 
 of all kinds of tall grass and shrubs, which in general 
 we call Mskiko-al, grass or hay — no matter what kind 
 it is — what we call in French, foin. 
 
 "In order not to mislead you by the words Mskiko 
 and Miskiko-al, I will say that the former is the sin- 
 gular and the latter the plural of the same word. In 
 the Abenakis language all the vowels must be dis- 
 tinctly sounded, and, therefore, Messepskoi should be 
 pronounced as if it was spelled Messeps-ko-wi, the 
 last syllable as if it was spelled we. The more I study 
 and consider the various spellings that have been sub- 
 mitted to me, the more I am inclined to believe that 
 Missisquoi is derived from Messepskoi, which, pre- 
 sumably, the whites, omitting the p and not being 
 aware that the Abenakis do not use the letter g, they 
 used that letter instead of h and thus produced the 
 transformation in the orthography of the word. ' ' 
 
 That difficulties have always been encountered by 
 the whites in their attempts to master the aboriginal 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi. 97 
 
 languages and idioms, and to bring linguistic order 
 out of chaos, is abundantly proven by the works of 
 many writers on Indian philology. Eeverend Jonas 
 Michaelius, from New Amsterdam (New York), under 
 date of August 11, 1628, wrote to Dom Adrianus 
 Smoutius of Amsterdam, Holland, on this subject, as 
 follows : 
 
 Their language, which is the first thing to be em- 
 ployed with them, methinks is entirely peculiar. Many 
 of our common people call it an easy language, which 
 is soon learned, but I am of a contrary opinion. 
 
 For those who can understand their words to some 
 extent and repeat them, fail greatly in the pronuncia- 
 tion and speak a broken language, like the language 
 of Ashdod. For these people have difficult aspirates 
 and many guttural letters which are formed more in 
 the throat than by the mouth, teeth and lips, which our 
 people, not being accustomed to, guess at by means of 
 their signs, and then imagine that they have accom- 
 plished something wonderful. It is true, one can learn 
 as much as is sufficient for the purposes of trading, 
 but this becomes almost as much by signs with the 
 thumb and fingers as by speaking. * * * It also 
 seems to us that they rather design to conceal their 
 language from us than to properly communicate it, 
 except in things which happen in daily trade; saying 
 that it is sufficient for us to understand them in those ; 
 and then they speak only half their reasons, with 
 shortened words, and frequently call a dozen things, 
 and even more, by one name; and all things which 
 have only a rude resemblance to each other they fre- 
 quently call by the same name. 
 
 7 
 
98 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 In truth, it is a made-up, childish language; so that 
 even those who can best of all speak with the Indians 
 and get along well in trade, are, nevertheless, wholly 
 in the dark and bewildered when they hear the Indi- 
 ans speaking with each other by themselves. 
 
 From the dim and distant past of nearly three hun- 
 dred years ago, and passing over unnumbered author- 
 ities who give similar testimony, we cross the inter- 
 vening centuries to an authority of our own day. 
 Chief Joseph Laurent of Pierreville, P. Q., Canada, 
 who in explaining the etymology of Indian names by 
 which are designated certain tribes, towns, rivers, 
 lakes, etc., in his "Abenakis and English Dialogues," 
 says: 
 
 It would perhaps be well to mention that all these 
 names, either in Abenakis, Cree or other tribal lan- 
 guages, which now designate so many localities, moun- 
 tains, rivers, etc., have been so much disfigured by the 
 whites, who, not understanding the meaning of these 
 words, pronounced them in the best way they could 
 and spelled them accordingly, but in most cases, with 
 such incorrectness that they have rendered many of 
 them altogether incomprehensible, and thereby impos- 
 sible to discover their true signification. 
 
 Briefly summing up the work in hand, it seems fair 
 to conclude from the evidence adduced and that de- 
 rived from publications during my investigations: 
 
 That the Indians were very literal in the bestowal 
 of names, and that it is along the line of some striking 
 
Etymology of Missisquoi, 99 
 
 peculiarity or physical condition that the reason for 
 the bestowal of this name must be sought; 
 
 That the Indian place name that has come down to 
 us as Missisquoi was first bestowed upon the river of 
 this name in northern Vermont, because of some pecu- 
 liar condition existing along its course or at its mouth, 
 or striking characteristic of the people in the settle- 
 ment upon its banks; 
 
 That it was long years afterwards before it was 
 bestowed upon the bay and county now known by this 
 name, and that in consequence these must be excluded 
 from consideration when seeking the reason for the 
 bestowal of this name; 
 
 That the Crees were remote from the Abenaquis, and 
 that several tribes whose language was very different, 
 lived in the country that separated them; 
 
 That there is no evidence whatever to prove the 
 adoption of the words of one tribe by another in prim- 
 itive times, and it is against probability; 
 
 That the word for great, big or many women in 
 Abenaquis is entirely unlike the word of similar mean- 
 ing in the Cree language ; 
 
 That Indian women were never honored in the way 
 implied by "big woman, " "great woman," and the 
 like; 
 
 That no flint existed or was to be obtained in the 
 country beside or near the river; 
 
 That while rocks, boulders and cliffs abound on the 
 shore of the bay, they are not in striking evidence 
 along the river; 
 
 That while a few small rattlesnakes existed in early 
 
100 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 times in the territory now known as Vermont, they 
 were neither so large nor so abundant as to justify 
 the use of the adjectives "great" or "many" — and 
 their habitat was in the rocky ledges of the hills and 
 mountains and not in the lowlands, valleys and 
 marshes ; 
 
 That the Indians had no word to signify the group- 
 ing or aggregation of different varieties of the same 
 species, as, for instance, a single word for the species 
 cervidse — the deer, caribou, elk and moose, nor for the 
 anatidae — the ducks, geese, brant and swan — as is im- 
 plied in the term "water-fowl," nor was it their cus- 
 tom so to do ; and 
 
 That very extensive marshes covered with a rank 
 growth of willows, whortleberry bushes (now called 
 high-bush blueberries), cat-tail flag, bullrushes and 
 coarse grass, exist at and in the vicinity of the mouth 
 of the river, and extensive beaver meadows were 
 formerly in abundant evidence throughout its whole 
 course. 
 
 Looking at the question from this standpoint, does 
 not the evidence submitted warrant the conclusion 
 that the word Missisquoi is of Abenakis origin, that 
 it was bestowed in accordance with Indian custom, and 
 signifies "a great grassy place," "a sticky place," — 
 a great marshy place! 
 
 This study was undertaken with a receptive and an 
 unbiased mind and it is ended without any predilection. 
 
 Should a more exhaustive investigation bring forth 
 new facts to warrant a different conclusion, the writer 
 will give them glad welcome. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Bishop Baraga's Theoretical and Practical Grammar 
 of the Otchipwe language — the language spoken 
 by the Chippewa Indians. Also Dictionary of the 
 Otchipwe language explained in English. Part II. 
 Otchipwe-English. 
 
 Bishop Michaud's History of the Catholic Church in 
 the Diocese of Burlington; Boston, 1900. 
 
 Chamberlain, Alexander F., Journal of American 
 Folk-Lore. 
 
 Documentary History of New York ; Albany, 1850. 
 
 Documents relating to the Colonial History of New 
 York; Albany, 1856—. 
 
 Gannett 's Origin of Certain Place Names in the United 
 States, 2d Ed. ; Government Printing Office, Wash- 
 ington, 1905. 
 
 Garneau's History of Canada, Bell's Translation; 
 Montreal, 1860. 
 
 Hemmenway's Vermont Historical Gazetteer; Mont- 
 pelier, 1882. 
 
 Jesuit Belations, 73 vols.; Cleveland, 1896. 
 
 Laurent's Abenakis and English Grammar and Dia- 
 logues; Quebec, 1884. 
 
 Maurault's Histoire de Abenakis; Sorel, 1866. 
 
 Miles' History of Canada; Montreal, 1872. 
 
102 Etymology of Missisquoi. 
 
 Pilling 's Bibliography of Iroquoian Languages; Grov- 
 ernment Printing Office, Washington, 1888. 
 
 The Differentiation Between the Penobscot and the 
 Canadian Abenakis Dialects; American Anthro- 
 pologist (N. S.), Vol IV, page 17. 
 
 Thompson's History of Vermont; Burlington, 1842. 
 
 Trumbull's Natick Dictionary; Government Printing 
 Office, Washington, 1903. 
 
 Warburton's Conquest of Canada; London, 1849. 
 
 White's Early History of New England; Concord, 
 1841. 
 
LIVING AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 
 
 Page. 
 
 Boyle, David 69 
 
 Doughty, Alfred G 56, 67 
 
 Gerard, W. R 74 
 
 Girouard, Desire 42, 78 
 
 Gonzague, Joseph de 49 
 
 Goodrich, J. E 19 
 
 Gould, 0. H 69 
 
 Granger, L. S 72 
 
 Holmes, W. H 44, 46, 70 
 
 Johnson, George 14, 75 
 
 Jones, William 33 
 
 Laurent, Joseph 95 
 
 McCorkill, J. C 54, 58 
 
 Melancun, Art. 72 
 
 Morris, G. Alfred 60 
 
 Murray, W. H. H 40 
 
 Noyes, John P 63 
 
 Pardoe, Avern 68 
 
 Pattison, Wm. Mead 65 
 
 Prince, J. Dyneley 35, 38 
 
 Racicot, Ernest 83 
 
 Sumner, Samuel 39 
 
 Taylor, Ernest M 77 
 
 Tooker, William Wallace 27, 29, 31 
 
 White, Aubrey 69 
 
ETYMOLOGIES AND AUTHORITIES 
 
 Page. 
 
 Mach-esk-ak, Missi-assquo-ayeu — great miry place, 
 
 Tooker, 28,30 
 
 Mas-ik-ik-oik — place of great stones, Boulder Point, 
 
 Girouard, 42,85,91 
 
 Messim-ski-koik — abundance of tall grass, Laurent, 96 
 Mis-asku-og — great grass place, where great rushes 
 
 grow, Tooker, 30 
 
 Missi-assisku — much mud, much soft clay, Holmes, 70 
 
 Missi-assisquoi — much mud or clay, . Hewitt, 44 
 
 Missi-ikew, or iskwew — large woman, . Hewitt, 44 
 
 Missi-ikwew — the great woman, . Pardoe, 68 
 
 Misi-iskew — big woman, . . . Baraga, 11 
 
 Mishi-ishkew — big woman, • . . . Gould, 70 
 Mis-iskew, corruption from Missis-kway-oo — big 
 
 woman (on authority of Jesuit missionaries), 
 
 Gerard, 74 
 
 Mishi-ishkwew — big woman, . . Johnson, 14 
 
 Missi-kisco — much water-fowl, . Thompson, 15 
 
 Missi-kisco — much water-fowl, . . Taylor, 69 
 
 Missi-squoi — large rocks or boulders, . Johnson, 77 
 Missi-squois — great miry place, great muddy 
 
 place, . . . . . Tooker, 28 
 
 Missisquois — much water-fowl, . . Noyes, 63 
 
 Misqui — musqua — blood and red, . Doughty, 56, 58 
 
 Missisquois, from Tsisquoi— stop, . Melangon, 73 
 
 Msa-skog — big snake, . . . Prince, 38 
 
 Mse-miskeco — much grass, . . Thompson, 15 
 
 Msi-sisikwa — big rattlesnake, . . Prince, 36, 38 
 
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